The Winter’s Tale is the polar opposite in mood [to Henry V]; a play about a Sicilian king, Leontes, who loses his family and his mind after becoming convinced of his wife’s adultery. Hall makes Leontes’s dead son Mamillius the emotional – and mysterious – heart of the matter, using his toys to tell part of the story in a way that poetically casts the play as an elegy to lost childhood.

The middle, slightly tiresome act, set in a fantastical Bohemia, provides a blast of pure Propeller – replete with singing sheep and Autolycus as a shady, decaying glam rocker.

The wintry temperature is beautifully restored in the final scene, however, with a twist that icily refuses the possibility of redemption.

‘The bravura shift in mood from the Deco elegance of the Sicilian court to the Day-Glo madness of Bohemia 16 years later is superbly handled, and includes some terrific dance routines’

‘I simply report that it excellently hits all the play’s notes of royal and domestic tragedy, rustic comedy and sentimental wonderment’

‘…it glories in a wonderfully louche performance from Tony Bell, who plays Autolycus as an ageing rock god…’