The new Courtyard is a terrific space, and Phil Willmott's production makes the most of it with a staging that, though not in the round for most of the audience, nonetheless reaps all the benefits of intimacy. It looks pretty, too, with twinkling fairy lights and a frost-kissed floor. But Willmott, concerned that audiences won't cope with the swift lurch from dark drama to comedy and the court of Sicilia to the fields of Bohemia, scuppers his chances of success by putting a section from act four at the beginning, so introducing the rustic characters first. It is a framing device in which the country folk are told the story of Leontes' wild jealousy and its consequences at the sheep-shearing festival.
Rather than simplifying matters, however, this confuses them. The change fails to explain how the story's listeners became players in the narrative itself. And it destroys the drama's natural arc, reducing the impact of the final unifying scene in which the two halves of the story meet in an emotionally satisfactory manner. I've seen plenty of modern productions that have tinkered with Shakespeare; this directorial decision falls into the strong-but-wrong category.
Willmott might have pulled it off if he hadn't allowed proceedings to drag on for three hours, and had been able to cast more evenly. There are good performances - Natasha Seale's Hermione and Matthew Judd's earnest Prince Florizel - but some actors are distinctly ill at ease. It is a pity, too, that Willmott has mustered a cast of 18 but not a child to play the young Mamillius - another missing linchpin that ensures this evening never warms an icy heart.
· Until January 27. Box office: 0870 163 0717.
