BakerShake production disappoints

By Matthew Banks     3/6/12 6:00pm

The Baker Shakespeare cast muddles William Shakespeare's script of The Winter's Tale in their 2012 production. The show's execution is weak overall, with poor technical choices and less than spectacular performances.

The Winter's Tale is the story of Leontes, King of Sicilia, who accuses his wife Hermione of having an affair with his childhood friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia. Hermione's trial follows after the birth of her daughter Perdita, who is taken away from Sicilia to Bohemia. The play flips back and forth between the royal court of Sicilia and the sheep shearing community of Bohemia.

Overall, the acting in the performance is poor. Difficulties with volume and enunciation run rampant in the cast. Given the complex nature of Shakespeare's text, this makes a significant amount of the plot difficult to follow. Brief moments exist where a character can be heard, especially in the monologues, but these quickly end when the greener members of the cast enter.

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Hanszen College sophomore Omar Tariq delivers an inconsistent performance as Leontes. To his credit, he is one of the more easily understood actors on stage, and instances in which Leontes appears jovial highlight his skill as an actor. However, Leontes is an extremely authoritative character, and Tariq lacks the commanding presence needed to make the character believable. Hanszen freshman Becca Kellner's performance as Hermione is especially disappointing. Physically, her portrayal of the queen is decent, but she is extremely difficult to understand. Poor enunciation brings down a performance that otherwise would have been good. Of the three royals, Hanszen senior Raymond Verm delivers the most consistent performance as Polixenes. However, his performance is too consistent. Little emotional, tonal or physical variation exists in the part. We start off enjoying his character but lose interest as nothing new is done to keep our attention.

Despite the weak performances of the leads, the supporting cast does well with the difficult material. Lovett College freshman Stanford Liew delivers one of the best performances of the night playing the loyal yet conflicted Lord Antigonus. Liew's simplistic but heartfelt portrayal leaves the audience wishing the bear had already eaten that day. Sid Richardson College junior Alex Karge returns to the BakerShake stage after last year's impressive performance as the title character in Hamlet. This time around, he plays the rogue Autolycus, delivering a show-stealing performance, bounding about the stage with an adept understanding of the Bard's language and a varied performance rarely seen in college theater. Baker College senior Matt Winkler gives an impressive performance as Clown, a shepherd by trade and Perdita's adoptive older brother. Although his performance has little variation, his energy is infectious and makes for an overall ?enjoyable experience.

BakerShake has made The Winter's Tale a family affair this season, with two cameos from family members belonging to the Rice community. Faysal Al-Zand, son of McMurtry masters Karim Al-Zand and Dereth Phillips, gives an enjoyable performance as Mamillius, the son of Leontes and Hermione. Although slightly difficult to hear at times, the spunk he brings to the role adds a nice touch of youth to the play. Baker master Ivo-Jan van der Werff makes an appearance at the end of Act I. Playing a large bear, van der Werff delivers a hilariously random performance as the ?woodland creature.

BakerShake's stage is a rarely seen with the audience placed on both sides of the stage. Stark design and simple painting do well to focus the attention on the performances, and when the acting lives up to expectations, the effect is enjoyable. Furthermore, the audience is placed directly in the action, as characters regularly enter and exit through the aisles, and in certain instances, characters interact with various audience members, adding comedic moments to ?the show.

Although the stage highlights specific moments, overall it creates more problems than it solves. Several of the actors are difficult to hear, and when they placed their backs to one side of the audience to address the other, entire parts of long monologues are lost. Furthermore, stage lights point towards the audience from above. Although necessary to light the stage, they create discomfort for audience members who have to look directly toward the lights to focus on ?the characters.

Costumes, designed by Baker freshman Kami Watkins, are hit or miss. Design-wise, the costumes show promise, but issues arise in execution. Some of the fabric choices make certain costumes, especially among the royals, appear more like pajamas than actual clothing.

The Winter's Tale trips up the cast with its difficult script, constant character switches and overall absurdity. Some might find the randomness funny, but theatrical inconsistencies plague the show, delivering a disappointing production from BakerShake.

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