It is always a pleasure to attend a performance at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum and reacquaint myself with familiar members of the repertory troupe, who have undertaken yet another guise for the season. A decidedly family affair, the company’s related members’artistic director Ellen Geer and her extended family’and the entire cast work together like a drill team, and seem to be enjoying themselves all the while. The multicultural cast includes Theatricum company members Ted Barton, Alan Blumenfeld, Willow Geer, Larry Gelman, Abner Genece, William Dennis Hunt, Jim LeFave, Melora Marshall, Earnestine Phillips, and Jeff Wiesen. ‘The Winter’s Tale’ is one of two of Shakespeare’s plays (joining ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’) being performed on the Theatricum’s outdoor stage under the oak trees in Topanga Canyon. This year the company is participating in the National Endowment of the Arts project to perform Shakespeare in 26,000 towns and cities around the country. Throughout June, the company gave away 25 pairs of tickets per performance. In addition, they will use their NEA grant to perform in area schools. Historically, a winter’s tale was intended to amuse and distract those who lived in harsher climes and endured the inevitable dark, cold months. The story must be gripping and indeed, in Shakespeare’s tale, the story, while taking a few inconceivable turns, is filled with some of his most delightful rustic characters telling a good story. But, first the inconceivable plot. We in the audience must accept the king of Sicily Leontes’ jealousy, which is after all the catalyst that sets the entire story into action. Thoroughly unsubstantiated, his doubts of his wife’s virtue are fueled by his own delusions. Actor Jim LeFave has his work cut out, and he accomplishes his assignment with high scores. Storming the stage with rageful hurt, he imprisons his wife, refuses his newborn daughter, only to grieve inconsolably as he accepts that his foolishness has resulted in the death of his son and wife. Once set in motion, the plot does find itself wending its way to a tidy wrap-up, although Shakespeare must pull off his greatest stage legerdemain to effect the surprising climax. The dramatic descent of Hermione from her pedestal, coup de theatre though it is, is profoundly moving. Sitting in the rustic setting at the Theatricum Botanicum, the audience is inveigled to enter the realm of theatrical magic. We Merry Minstrels not only serenaded guests while we were waiting to enter the arena, the group continued moving us back to the 16th century with their richly rendered a cappella Renaissance music before the action began. One is willing to suspend disbelief because of the credibility of the characters and the beauty of its poetry. Shakespeare is at his best in this last of the comedies when describing exuberant young love between Florizel and Perdita or giving us Autolycus, played by Alan Blumenfeld, a 27-year member of the Theatricum Botanicum. Blumenfeld plays the wily pickpocket with just the right amount of over-the-top fun, dancing off into the audience with some further tomfoolery. Others of note are Hermione, whose speech to her daughter, whom she has never met, is moving in its understatement: ‘You gods, look down/And from your sacred vials pour your graces/Upon my daughter’s head! Tell me, mine own, where hast thou been preserv’d? where liv’d? how found/thy father’s court?…’ ‘The Winter’s Tale’ continues every Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. through September 26. Tickets are $14 and $25; seniors, students, and members of Equity pay $11 and $15; children ages 6-12 are $8; children under 6 are free. Audiences at the Sunday, September 19 performance are invited to participate in a pre-show discussion beginning at 2 p.m. The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga, midway between Malibu and the San Fernando Valley. Contact: 455-3723.
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