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Shakespeare's Winter's Tale is tragic and uplifting tale of friendship, jealousy and redemption. It tells the story of two childhood friends, Leontes and Polixenes, who grow up to become the King of Sicilia and the King of Bohemia. The story is one that seems to be half-rooted in Greco-Roman mythology, with the core of ecstatic, and somewhat unearthly, romance that characterizes much of Shakespeare's work. This winter the BAM Harvey Theater in Brooklyn, New York, is presenting The Winter's Tale in February and March. This is definitely the Shakespearean tale of the season, a delightful play by the great playwright that is often overlooked in literary classes.
Leontes and Polixenes are childhood friends whose bond is so strong that it compels them to visit each other upon occasion. We find the noblemen Camillo describing the friendship of the two kings to Archidamus, a lord of Bohemia, saying "Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Behmia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them such an affection which cannot choose but branch now." As the first act unfolds we learn that it is Leontes who is playing host to Polixenes, assisted in his hosting duties by his pregnant wife Hermoine. We enter on a jovial and intimate scene, where Leontes and his wife are trying to convince Polixenes to stay for yet another week.
As the play unfolds the story draws deeply on the more vile veins of human nature, mainly the theme of jealousy, which serves to tear apart
not only Leontes relationship with his friend, but also with his queen. Once more Shakespeare reveals the depths to which a common fault can sink a powerful man, as he did in Othello. In many ways, in fact, this play mirrors Othello, although it is on the level of kings and countries rather than warriors and armies that the play unfolds. But, unlike Othello, there is a hope that remains in the form of the children, the daughter of Leontes and the son of Polixenes. Rather than ending in the death and the creation of a tragic hero, as in Othello, The Winter's Tale brings peace and redemption to the story that otherwise would have been another tragedy.
The upcoming presentation of this Shakespearean play is something to greatly look forward to. As every presentation of a Shakespearean work becomes as much the creation of the director, as it is a creation of the playwright. Shakespeare's works lend themselves so prominently to the imagination and to varying times and places, that there is a great deal that can be drawn from each telling as the unfolding layers of the story are presented by a new cast. One might think that over the years the plays might become stale, but Shakespeare's works remain, as ever, timeless classics and works of art that reveal something of human nature and personality to every generation, one-by-one. The Winter's Tale tickets are a great way to enjoy a new year in theater, and if you have trouble finding tickets, they are often available at online ticket resellers.
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