Last Wednesday, just before we all scattered for our Easter break trips, we had a long but lovely day visiting Warwick Castle and attending a Royal Shakespeare Company production of "A Winter's Tale," written near the end of the great playwright's career. The play is not performed often because it's long, the plot has a few holes and the motivations of the characters can be difficult to understand. But this was a well-reviewed production, and for good reason: the acting was superb, the interpretation was creative but seemed true to the spirit of the play, and the audience was appreciative. The original setting was in a sort of mythical ancient time, but the director chose to set it in the Victorian era. The most impressive scene was when two very tall bookcases fell over and the books scatter all over the stage. The book pages stayed there for the rest of the play and ended up being part of the set; we had discussions about what they symbolized. Was it civilization? Humanism? Intellectualism? Nobody was sure, but the spectacle of the play, including the wonderful sheep-shearing festival with music, dancing and colorful costumes encouraged us to leave some questions unanswered.
Warwick Castle is such a beautiful, classic, perfectly preserved medieval castle that it feels more like a Disneyland recreation, which is only enhanced by the intense theme-park atmosphere. But it is obvious that children love the experience, and it was a beautiful day.
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