If you’ve ever wished Shakespearean English weren’t so darned hard to understand (I certainly have), then Tracy Young’s modern verse translation of The Winter’s Tale, the sparklingly performed latest from Skylight Theatre Company, is the Shakespeare production for you and for me.

The tale Shakespeare and co-adapters Lisa Wolpe and Young have to tell is the same one that has both confounded and entertained audiences for the past four centuries, confounded because the first half of this so-called “comedy” is about as dark and twisted as the darkest and most twisted of Shakespeare’s tragedies, and entertained because its second half is a madcap funfest if there ever was one.

Young goes a long way towards unifying these mismatched halves opening the show with the entire cast dancing and lip-syncing to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” signaling from the get-go that no matter how much murderous jealousy lies ahead, there’ll be joy and laughter to follow.

 And murderous jealousy there is aplenty when the green-eyed monster rears its ugly head in the person of King Leontes of Sicily (Daniel DeYoung), who gets it into his jealous noggin that his stunner of a wife Hermione (Spencer Jamison) has been canoodling in not-so-secret with his childhood chum King Polixenes of Bohemia (Iman Nazemzadeh), and worse still, that the child Hermione is expecting seems likely to look a lot more like Polixenes than its actual dad.

And though the lady doth protest Leontes’ accusations (too much or too little, depending on whom you ask), having spotted his wife and bestie PDFing in full public view, Leontes is not about to be dissuaded from his unfounded beliefs, which is why he orders Lord Camilo (Shaan Dasani) to poison Polixenes to death.

Fortunately for the latter, Camilo opts instead to abet Leontes’ ex-bff’s escape from Sicily to the safety of Bohemia.

Hermione, however, fares considerably less well when she gives birth in prison to a child whom her husband not only refuses to recognize as his own, he proceeds to order nobleman Antigonus (Miguel Pérez) to take the female newborn out into the wilderness and leave her there to meet her fate.

That fate turns out to be being rescued from certain death by a Shepherd (KT Vogt), who rears her into a sixteen-year-old beauty named Perdita (Misha Osherovich) who’s about to fall head over heels for none other than Polixenes’ handsome son Florizel (Israel Erron Ford).

Also figuring in The Winter’s Tale’s considerably more comedic second half are a doltish Clown (Audrey Cirzan)  and a couple of nubile shepherdesses named Mopsa (Jamison) and Dorcas (Victoria Hoffman), all of the above adding up to a play that Young has managed to trim significantly, and though she has modernized the play’s lexicon (“Let me know my trespass” becomes “Let me know my offense”), she maintains much of Shakespeare’s original language and his signature iambic pentameter, the result of which is a “translation” that manages to feel entirely Shakespearean but is a whole lot easier to follow.

Also trimmed is the number of actors (down from as many as 30 or more in some productions to a mere 11), meaning that virtually everyone plays multiple roles each.

 Force of nature Vogt, for example, is a tough-as-nails Paulina before transforming herself into a countrified hick of a Shepherd, and the luminous Jaminson gets to be both a regal Hermione and a wacky Mopsa.

A standout DeYoung burns up the stage with jealous rage as Leontes, Audrey Cirzan steals scenes right and left as the clowningest of Clowns, Nazemzadeh is once again a dynamic stage presence as Polixenes, and Ford and Osherovich couldn’t be more charming as young lovers Florizel and Perdita, with Dasani, Hoffman, Pérez, and Quest Sapp completing the cast to memorable effect.

Christopher Scott Murillo has designed a nifty faux marble set in shades of gray and red which Brandon Baruch has lit with dramatic flair. C. Yuri Son’s costumes are an engaging mix of contemporary, classical, and cute-as-can-be. Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski’s expert sound design and jaunty original music add standout elements of their own, with Nicole Bernardini’s abundant array of props ranging from posies to pool noodles.

Last but not least, choreographer John Paul Batista inserts lively dance bits throughout the show. (Brian Heveron-Smith is music director.)

The Winter’s Tale is produced by Gary Grossman and Armando Huipe. Hoffman is casting director. Aarush Thakkar and Anay Agrawal make special film appearances in “home video” segments.

Celina Lee Surniak is intimacy and fight director. Benjamin Pryor is dramaturg. Karen (Kaz) Ozborne is production stage manager.

Some may cry foul at the mere thought of Shakespearean verse being modernized, but not I. Tracy Young’s The Winter’s Tale is the Shakespeare play that even those who can take the Bard or leave him just might love.

Skylight Theatre, 1816 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles. Through June 14. See website for detailed performance schedule.
www.skylighttheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
April 24, 2025
Photos: Jason Williams

Tags: Lisa Volpe, Los Angeles Theater Review, Skylight Theatre Company, Tracy Young