Gender-changing play
Black Hole Theatre retells The Winter’s Tale
Jeanne Fronda Staff
Photo by Dennis Smith.
When thinking of feminist playwrights, Shakespeare is probably not the first name that comes to mind. With International Women’s Day being celebrated during the same week as the play’s run, how fitting that the Black Hole Theatre Company’s last mainstage show of the school year is a feminist work, a new interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s tragi-comedies.
The Winter’s Tale, one of Shakespeare’s lesser known plays, is the story of a jealous King, Leontes, who believes his pregnant wife, Queen Hermione, is having an affair with one of his dear friends, King Polixenes. Hermione gives birth to a daughter, Perdita, and Leontes believes she was spawned from this alleged affair. Perdita ends up being raised by a shepherd and the shepherd’s daughter, the Clown. The play reveals what happens to Perdita as she tries to make her way in the world.
Professor Margaret Groome said she chose this play as the Black Hole Theatre’s final mainstage show because it is not well known.
“I was informed in a Shakespeare class when I was an undergraduate that, ‘You’ll probably never see this play,’” said Groome, the director of The Winter’s Tale. “It’s rarely, if ever, done . . . . It’s still not a part of the regular canon, but it’s a wonderful play.”
As a self-identified feminist, Groome said she changed the gender of some characters in order to complement the three main female characters.
“The character of the Clown I changed to a woman, so we had to change all the pronouns,” she said. “[The change] was driven by both interpretive reasons and also simply by practical reasons, in that Shakespeare doesn’t provide many roles for women. We have a good pool of women available as actors in the Black Hole Theatre Company, and we wanted to provide more roles.”
The character of Time, who informs the audience of crucial information that happens during a 16-year span, was also changed from a male to a female character.
“I definitely wanted Time played as a woman, because the women’s roles in this play, the ones written by Shakespeare, are really quite fascinating,” she said. “We’re given three distinctive, different representations of strong, autonomous women.”
Groome described Hermione as having “inner strength” and Perdita as having an “innate nobility” and perseverance. But it is likely the character of Paulina, a friend of Hermione, who is the most obvious feminist symbol: Groome describes Paulina as the “I’m-going-to-tell-you off, I will-speak-my-mind” character.
“So with the portraits of these women . . . I will say openly it’s a feminist interpretation of the play and that there are certainly some male characters who have strength and wisdom,” said Groome. “It’s really through the women that the whole redemptive turn of the play is accomplished . . . [The Winter’s Tale] shows us women are being mistreated, but then it shows us them coming through. Women are the central strong figures . . . and [they] rally the men, and many of the men have to learn from them in effect. And once [the characters] have realized that side of themselves . . . they are then fully integrated human beings.”
Groome was quick to point out that altering portions of plays is a common practice, for both creative and narrative reasons. This version of The Winter’s Tale was shortened from three hours to two and a half so that a modern audience wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by its length. Groome emphasised that one of the main things for people to understand is that it’s a play that every one can grasp, even if they aren’t familiar with Shakespearean prose.
“People should never be shy about seeing Shakespeare, and thinking that they won’t understand the language,” said Groome. “We worked very hard at making the language clear, but what we have made absolutely clear are the intentions so they will understand what’s going on . . . Shakespeare’s plays are powerful things.”
The Winter’s Tale runs from March 7 to 11 and March 14 to 18 in the Black Hole Theatre, located in the basement of University College. Tickets cost $9 for students and seniors and $11 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the door or reservations can be made. For more information call the box office line at 474-6880.
