Reviews

This Sadler’s Wells double bill is the third of four live-streamed events in the 2021 Adelaide Festival’s ‘Live From Europe’ series with patrons watching the performances on a cinema screen.  The artists are performing live in their own time zone and can see and hear the Adelaide audience as we attend the theatre at night in our zone.  An excellent concept in our unusual, virus-affected present, and a solution that has worked well overall with packed houses and live introductions from our Festival Directors and the artists/producers in Europe.

This Winter’s Tale is spirited, engaging, funny – but still moving.  Shakespeare can succeed – even performed in a park, in daylight, with a minimal ad hoc set, and with the cast in mufti.

When Poppy Mee wakes up in a mess of a room, she downs an energy drink poured into a jam jar, then instantly breaks the fourth wall and starts telling us about her wonderful adventures overseas. Halfway through an intriguing story, she is interrupted by those seeking the truth.

With a little persuasion and negotiation with the audience, she begins to retell her stories, only this time without any ‘slight exaggeration’, the embellishments replaced by disappointment, anxiety, and loneliness.

Running onto stage to a mixed response due to his Adelaide Crows football kit (‘this was really cheap this year for some reason’), Jon Bennett sets our expectations with a rapid-fire delivery of notes about the venue and what we’re going to be hearing from him over the next hour. He promises a visit from a possum (who duly turned up in the second half), people shouting over the fence behind us, and some embarrassing conversations. It is perhaps a fitting venue to be talking about the strange and ancient world of male sport culture in Australia.