The theatre-in-the-round space of the Courtyard Theatre, bordered by silvery trees with fairy lights, is perfect for Phil Willmott’s production of ‘The Winter’s Tale’, emphasising the magical and community aspects of the play in a season that celebrates redemption. Shakespeare's pastoral 'problem' play is generally thought to leap too suddenly from psychological drama to fairytale ending, and suits interpretation as ‘an old ballad’ or folk myth, proximity here allowing the actors to merge with the audience as spectators in the opening scenes. Close enough to treat the cruel monarch to a disapproving scowl at the start, I was also astonished at the end when the ‘surprise’ personage was smuggled in, apparently, under my nose. Inspired use of the adjoining echo-y dance studio for spill-over revelry effects adds an element which also fits well with cosmic references within the play.

The magical nature of the story is suggested by regal protagonists and far away setting, with Sicily, or Sicilia as it is called here, representing a kind of Narnia. Leontes, King of Sicilia, played by a suitably saturnine Gwilym Lloyd, encourages his beautiful wife Hermione, Natasha Seale circling flirtatiously, to persuade his friend the King of Bohemia to stay longer. When she succeeds, however, he is immediately gripped by jealousy. Hermione, mother of his eight year old son and heavily pregnant, obviously likes the handsome King Polixenes, an aptly cast Simon de Deney, and Leontes soon convinces himself that the expected child may be a bastard. He oders a reluctant courtier, Camillo, played with due gravitas by Matthew Ward, to kill Polixenes. Instead, they return to Bohemia and Leontes has his wife arrested, charged with adultery and imprisoned. After she gives birth to a daughter she is found guilty of adultery, but collapses on hearing that her son has pined away in her absence. Her maidservant Paulina, played to plainspoken perfection by Ursula Mohan, reports she too has died. Leontes orders the infant to be left to perish in the wilds. After sixteen years, by which time Leontes is thoroughly repentant, events conspire to give him another chance.

The Shakespearian play-within-a-play format is familiar from ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, ‘A Midsummer Nights’ Dream’ and most famously ‘Hamlet’, but here, partially integrated with the main plot, it is less successful, and the sixteen year gap in the middle is another ‘problem’ the play presents. This is clearly necessary, however, for the coup de theatre transformation at the end. On the way are many textual delights, including the world-in-miniature description of the tinker’s wares and Leontes’ tirade of accusations, recalling 'Othello' and including startling marital insults such as ‘bed-swerver’. What might be regarded as the ‘motif’ line of this play, the old shepherd's consoling words to his son: ‘You met with things dying, I with things new-born.’ follows, of course, the celebrated stage direction: ‘Exit, pursued by a Bear’.

Tha acting throughout is strong, not only in the main roles but in the ensemble playing, with a stand-out performance from Phil Sealey as Autolycus, the scurrilous tinker in a swinging frock coat with multi-coloured panels.

Minor technical problems still need attention at the company’s new home. Drifts of sound from the smaller space above, where a 60s revival musical was taking place on the night I attended, occasionally intruded on the whistling wind and crows cawing from the speakers in the quieter passages. That said, I was impressed by the warm response in this audience-friendly atmosphere. In the interval I chatted to a man who had noticed me taking notes. Although in his forties, he hadn’t seen a Shakespeare before – it was ‘the in-laws’ attempt at educating him, he said, disguised as a Christmas present. If this was Shakespeare, he definitely wanted to see more, and what else could I recommend. I don’t think I’ve heard a better endorsement for a production – or one so well-deserved.