South Langley
$35
July 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14
All performances at 7pm, Doors at 6pm
Langley City
FREE or By Donation
July 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28
All performances at 7pm, Doors at 6pm
A tragic but redemptive story that takes place across two time periods, The Winter's Tale chronicles the devastating effects of suspicion and jealousy upon a King and his kingdom, and 16 years later, his improbable vindication. When the good King Leontes suddenly suspects his best friend and his wife of infidelity, it throws his whole kingdom into chaos. After Leontes loses everything that he loves, he realizes how his choices to trust his own suspicion have destroyed his world. Across the sea in a world of wine, comedy, and love, Leontes’ lost daughter is trying to find her place in the world, and events are set in motion that will lead her home, and lead Leontes to an unexpected redemption.
Director, Dylan Coulter
I've always been drawn to the comedic plays from the second half of Shakespeare’s career. It is notable that after completing his great tragedies, that the Bard’s later comedies are streaked with the same tragic brilliance that make Hamlet and Macbeth so memorable. This mixing of tragedy and comedy hints at both our great capacity to find humour in the darkness, and also Shakespeare’s understanding that comedy and tragedy are often separated by small but consequential choices. Romeo and Juliet could have been a comedy, if not for a sword fight in the streets, and The Winter’s Tale is very nearly an echo of King Lear, if not for King Leontes’ desire to grow and seek redemption.
This play is a structural curio, presenting a one-act tragedy followed by a one-act comedy. It gives us some of the most memorable comedic characters of all of Shakespeare’s career, and some truly strange and wonderous pieces of spectacle, with a bear in the woods, moments of magic, and intervention by the gods. It has dark dramatic scenes, brilliant speeches, and beautiful music, truly as diverse a play as any Shakespeare wrote, all coming together with an emotionally impactful ending. It has been such a joy to work on this messy masterpiece, and I can’t wait for us to share it this summer.
Director, Dylan Coulter
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BIV performs, rehearses, & gathers on the unceded lands of the Kwantlen, Katzie, Matsqui, Semiahmoo & Sumas First nations