Fear freezes 'Winter's Tale' at APT; forgiveness thaws it again

Lindsay Christians, The Cap Times

Nobody likes Leontes. The jealous despot who blows up his life — imprisons his queen, devastates his young son, abandons his infant daughter to the elements and attempts to assassinate his oldest friend — has few rivals among Shakespeare’s most despised villains.

Even Sir Patrick Stewart was warned away from playing the hotheaded Sicilian king back in the '80s.

“He’s a horrible person,” Stewart recalled a veteran actress saying of Leontes. “He’s cruel. … Don’t do it. It’ll just make you unhappy.”

Within Shakespeare’s canon, “The Winter’s Tale,” now running in the Hill Theatre at American Players Theatre through Oct. 4, lacks the theatrical fanbase enjoyed by the Bard’s less complicated hits.

Still, though APT hasn’t staged “The Winter’s Tale” since 2009, playgoers who have made their way to this Spring Green classical company in recent seasons will notice familiar plot points.

Leontes, played by a feverish-looking Nate Burger, suspects his heavily pregnant queen (Laura Rook) of having an affair with his oldest friend, the king of Bohemia (La Shawn Banks). Leontes’ public breakdown recalls the betrayed Claudio in “Much Ado About Nothing,” when the soldier cruelly rejects his bride at the altar.