I'm gonna miss the Chicago Shakespeare Company when I go home to S'pore. Then again if not for my house subsidising my trips there I probably wouldn't go but that's beside the point.

Watched The Winter's Tale on Friday evening. If you're wondering about how they performed the bear bit (y'know, the famous stage direction Exit, pursued by a bear in Act 3 Sc. 3), it was a guy in a bear suit behind a screen, his(her?) large shadow looming above poor Antigonus.

More intriguing staging: Time as a rapper and his song turned into hip-hop with dancers and the corresponding hip-hop moves. The pastoral feast scene taking place in a barn that was recreated on stage. Everyone spoke in Southern accents which I thought was annoying, and dressed like Russian peasants.

An interesting aspect of the play was the emphasis on the advisors -- servants to the kings in the play and forced by "loyalty" to carry out actions against their consciences. The portrayal of these usually less-important roles was excellent, imho, particularly the parts of Camillo and Paulina. Too bad their pictures aren't on the website.

There's a fuller synopsis here.