“Graham Abbey gives one of his best-ever performances as Leontes. Abbey directed the play for his Groundlings Theatre Company in 2016 and has a deep knowledge of his character and gives the most nuanced performance of Leontes I have ever seen…

Sara Topham is a luminous Hermione. In Hermione’s great speech at her trial before Leontes, Topham brings out in measured tones the complex mixture of pain, outrage, love and incomprehension in her response to her husband’s actions. In the final scene, Topham depicts Hermione’s awakening with such grace that she indeed makes the intended effect appear miraculous…

[Yanna] McIntosh finds an aspect to Paulina I have not seen before, namely the pain she feels in having to speak to Leontes with such harshness and the pity she feels for his illness. Giving Paulina more complex motives for castigating Leontes makes the character a more rounded figure and makes her willingness to care for the afflicted Leontes over 16 years much more believable.”

“Antoni Cimolino transforms the minimalist stage of the Tom Patterson Theatre into a canvas for exploring redemption, renewal, and the healing power of time…

This Winter’s Tale affirms that second chances are certainly possible, but it reminds us that they come at a cost. The production’s elegant simplicity, compelling performances, and thoughtful integration of Time as both theme and character make this a deeply moving, magical exploration of loss, forgiveness, and the possibility of renewal.”

“Thank God for director Antoni Cimolino! His searing, lyrical, and ultimately shattering production of Winter’s Tale at the Tom Patterson Theatre is the best Shakespeare I’ve seen at Stratford – or anywhere else for that matter – in many years…

Winter’s Tale is replete with themes of remorse and loss, of what might have been. The final moment, in which Time appears with the spirit of Leontes’ son, reduced me to tears.

If you are one of those people who “have had enough with Shakespeare,” you owe it to yourself to grab a ticket to Antoni Cimolino’s mesmerizing Winter’s Tale and have your faith restored.”

“Antoni Cimolino has wholeheartedly embraced The Winter Tale’s discordant nature, contrasting the tragedy of its opening acts with the whimsy and good humour that brings the story to its conclusion.

Bolstered by an extraordinary cast of Shakespeare veterans, including Graham Abbey as the troubled King Leontes and André Sills as the more even-tempered King Polixenes, Cimolino’s version of the The Winter’s Tale plays with the themes of friendship and love, as well as the doubts that can undercut even the closest of relationships…

Abbey has to do a lot of heavy lifting early in the play, shifting from the hail-fellow-well-met bonhomie of his earliest scenes to scheming resentment when he later, and mistakenly, convinces himself of being a cuckold. It’s a masterful performance made even more difficult by his character’s later redemption since his Leontes, as dastardly as he is in the opening acts, cannot become a complete villain.”

“…one of the best acted Shakespeare productions I have ever seen at Stratford…

As Leontes, Graham Abbey delivers the standout performance of the Stratford season thus far. His Leontes trembles in his step and stammers through his speech. His paranoia is one that stems from insecurity. In the first act, especially, Abbey convincingly charts Leontes’ unravelling: from suspicion to jealousy, to anger, to vengeance…

Meanwhile, [Sara] Topham imbues her Hermione with a sense of dignity. (Her trial scene is bone-chilling.) As Paulina, Hermione’s friend and fierce advocate, the ever formidable Yanna McIntosh delivers her lines in thunderous voice, stalking across the stage. In a spineless court of advisers unwilling to stand up to Leontes, it’s she who becomes its conscience…

There are exceptional performances all around. Orjalo and Austin Eckert possess wonderful chemistry as Perdita and Florizel, Polixenes’ son. They’re not to be outdone by Collins and Tom Rooney, equally fantastic as the king’s aides, Antigonus and Camillo. And Geraint Wyn Davies brings the humour as the thief Autolycus, a shape-shifting trickster with a wry, toothy grin.”

“Can people recover from mental illness? Can a marriage survive the wrath of a jealous husband? Can society heal its deepest divisions? And does truth matter?

Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is widely seen as an exploration of these questions, if a problematic one…

With Graham Abbey as the jealous King Leontes, Sara Topham as the wronged Queen Hermione, and André Sills as the loyal Polixenes, the play offers a redemptive experience for modern audiences.

Abbey plays a complex and believable king/dad whose vivid presence in early acts forms the spine of the show. And from the very first scene, it’s clear he’s not okay…

For a modern audience, this King’s redemption in this moment might seem out of reach. But Abbey pulls it off. We’re willing to let him have his reunion with the wife he tried to kill… I guess? We can debate the ethics of it, but for Shakespeare – and perhaps for director Antoni Cimolino – it’s more the idea that redemption is possible, even for people who have done truly bad things.”

” Graham Abbey’s performance is grounded more in the toxic masculinity that has proven to be so dangerous in today’s society….Whether his thinking is affected by mental illness or not, the actions he jumps into are not excused or justified and the outcome is so awful that it literally takes a miracle for him to receive some sense of absolution…

Giving an equally passionate performance is Yanna McIntosh as Hermione’s loyal friend, Paulina. Despite Leontes’ power and influence, she is loud and steadfast when she speaks against the King in support of her friend. McIntosh actually portrayed Hermione in the 2010 Stratford production of this play and it must be almost cathartic 15 years later, to be her defender. This production’s Hermione, Sara Topham gives a heartbreaking performance – the stakes of which remain present throughout the course of the play.”