“She has grown up realizing that you have to keep your dignity and honor above all because that’s the only thing no one can take away from you – they can take your crown, they can take your dignity but they can’t take how high you hold your head,” said actress Cherie Corinne Rice of her character Queen Hermione in Shakespeare Festival St. Louis’ presentation of “The Winter’s Tale.”
Rice is as thrilled to return to the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Stage bearing the crown of Hermione.
“What she endures is not that different from what black women have had to do forever,” Rice said. “You can take everything from us, but at the end of the day we remain this rock that people can’t understand how we’ve been so strong. Hermione is a perfect example of that – and for her to be played by a black woman – people will be able to see that strength, power and dignity that they are used to seeing from us throughout history.”
“The Winter’s Tale” continues through Sunday, June 25th at Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park.
The play is different than most of Shakespeare’s work in that it is a tragedy and a comedy within the same play.
Rice plays a queen wrongfully accused of adultery by her king and is forced to suffer unspeakable consequences. At a time when she should be filled with excitement as she awaits the birth of her second child, she must prove herself innocent after her husband accuses her of an affair and questions the paternity of her unborn baby. Her life and her baby’s life depend on successfully convincing the king that she has not strayed from her marital bed.
The consequences of the accusations result in unspeakable tragedies – and yet the play somehow transitions into a lighthearted comedy.
“Shakespeare is really brilliant at knowing what an audience needs,” Rice said. “A lot of people look at ‘The Winter’s Tale’ and think it’s very confusing – there’s death and tragedy, and then it ends as a comedy. It seems a little schizophrenic on the page, but what we learned in rehearsal and through performance is that you cry – and then you need to laugh. Shakespeare does that thing of really priming you for laughter by putting you in a really emotional place where you are desperate for something to laugh at.”
Rice said that “The Winter’s Tale” director Bruce Longworth did a phenomenal job of preparing the audience to be uplifted.
“The very last scene of the first act is the start of the comedy,” Rice said. “As the audience goes into intermission, they just start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“The Winter’s Tale” also stars Myke Andrews, Rachel Christopher, Chauncy Thomas, Cassia Thompson as well as Shakespeare Festival favorites Whit Reichert, Jerry Vogel and Anderson Matthews.
Christopher’s performance as Paulina is among the production’s biggest highlights as Hermione’s closest confidante and the fiercest defender of the queen’s honor.
Paulina also takes it upon herself to move the story into happily-ever-after.
Rice knows that people might be confused about the comedy-within-a-tragedy format of the play, but feels that the range of emotions within the play actually reflects the human experience.
“Hurt and pain is a part of the human experience Understanding how to forgive is an even bigger part of the human experience,” Rice said. “We do that more often than we think we do – but when it’s on the page or it’s on the stage we question it.
No matter how badly we hurt, we all want the opportunity to get back to happiness. Somehow and someway we find ourselves loving and laughing again – and that’s what this play is about. It’s about our desire to move forward and be back to that place of joy.”
Shakespeare Festival St. Louis’ presentation of “The Winter’s Tale continues through Sunday, June 25 (8 p.m. show time) at Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park. For more information, visit www.sfstl.com.
