Here is something that stuck out to me in the performance of A Winter's Tale at the Utah Shakespeare Festival; the use of colour in both costumes and sets.
The first time we see Hermione, she is wearing a long white robe- almost looking as if she is about to get married. White, a symbol of purity and cleanliness, suggests here that she is pure and innocent.
When she is in court being accused by her husband of infidelity, she is wearing a purple dress. While purple may only have the following meaning with LDS young women, it is still a valid analysis that the play director/costumer intended Hermione to represent integrity. In the young women's values, purple is the color for integrity. Interesting, that she is wearing purple while in court being accused falsely and thus still maintaining her integrity.
Added to Hermione's clothes is also Paulina who wears a dark purple jacket and skirt for much of the play. She is similarly a chaste and valiant woman (pulling out all my young womens vocab here) and strives to convince Leonte's of the queen's innocence and purity.
After the interval, we then saw Perdita wearing white. When mother and daughter are reunited in the final act, they both wear flowing white gowns- further suggesting the innocence of women and their pure hearts.
Finally, when Leonte's has been grief stricken for 16 years and has proved that he is a regretful, sorry and changed man, the background of the set is illuminated in purple. This was the first and only time it occurred in the play and perhaps resembles a sort of finality with Leontes. That he has come to terms with his sins and is ready to live a more righteous and integrity-filled life.
Symbolism!
I wish I could have gone! Thank you for sharing some of the costume design. Did the king have symbolism in the colors he was wearing?
ReplyDeleteThat's cool, I didn't even think about that! And even if that's not the specific symbolism intended by the designers, there is most likely some kind of similar concept behind the entire cohesive design. I had it drilled into me when I was a theater techie/designer in high school that you should never design anything, be it a set, lighting, or whatever, without having a specific concept behind it and even a written concept statement. Good job picking one out! I was having difficulty thinking of any while we watched it ;)
ReplyDeleteI didn't catch the white/purple symbolism. Nice! The one costume color I did notice was that Leontes' suit in the second half was gray, which I think made him look a lot older and worn out (after 16 years of punishing himself).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you picked out some of the same things that I did from the play. I definitely agree with Christa that for every design aspect of the show, they had to have had a very specific concept. I wish that I knew or understood each of those concepts better, but they were definitely there.
ReplyDelete