The Robinson Players 2026 main-stage production “A Midwinter Night’s Tale” took the stage in Gannet Theater from March 26th-28th. Directed by Lila Shamsi ‘26, the play balances modern comedic edge with a mix of classic Shakespearean texts. Written collaboratively by Anne Walaszek and Nathan Wonder, the play saw its second production at Bates. Walaszek attended closing night to see her work performed.
Shakespeare is this play’s primary catalyst. “A Midwinter Night’s Tale” is based on his “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” a comedy where four Greek lovers run into a forest, only to be manipulated by trio of love potion wielding magical fairies, and “The Winter’s Tale,” a comedic tragedy where a king questions his wife’s fidelity, kills their son, and banishes their daughter. Magic appears in both, “The Winter’s Tale” featuring animated statues which come to life. How do these comedies, and tragedies, come together to create one cohesive work? The answer lies in both the writing, and overall execution of the play.
The play follows three “couples,” or more like two couples and two obsessive lovers, over the course of one evening. Lilly (True Schrider ‘29) and Mia (Bailey Lawrence ‘29), a sapphic couple on their way to meet Mia’s parents in her hometown, lose control of their car during a snow storm and stumble upon the house of Bear (Mohammad Zayd ‘27) and Diana (Marisa Beard ‘28), a seemingly middle-aged couple, who live in an isolated cabin in the woods. Bear, a playwright, can be seen actively working on his next play, introducing one of the funniest moments in the play, dramatic irony and a clashing of worlds. Lilly and Mia enter the home looking for shelter and decide to not wake Bear and Diana, leading to an awkward dance in which the young couple decide to eat the homeowners food (mini-muffins), use their blankets, and sleep in their spare bed. Mia’s obsessive ex-boyfriend, Dimitri (Dylan Patel ‘27), tails them to the house to convince Mia to get together with him again, followed shortly by Helen (Lexi Wachen ‘26), Dimitri’s own obsessed stalker. The moment they all come together and realize what is happening is arguably the funniest scene in the play, each character’s wildly different intentions building up to this point.
As Diana offers for all of them to stay the night, Bear accidentally offers Lilly and Dimitri potion-laced chocolates, making the situation even messier. And, they have a few magical powers up their sleeves. Semi-mortal embodiments of Oberon and Titania in “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” as we come to find out, Bear and Diana aren’t your average middle-aged couple, and their magic chocolates induce love, first putting the eater into a deep sleep and then inducing love for the first person they see upon awaking.
This mechanism creates a love triangle from hell when Lilly and Dimitri, after eating the chocolates, both become obsessed with Helen. A point of contention between Bear and Diana, it heightens tensions in the house. This is where the easy-to-follow Shakespeare concepts of love potions end, as the play becomes more convoluted and harder to follow.
The group finds out Bear is a playwright, and the younger characters insist on acting out his current project (which has a plot that differs very little from “The Winter’s Tale”). This is where I got lost.
The group performs the royal comedic tragedy by reciting Shakespearean prose. This almost 20-minute dramatic reading was hard to follow, both because of the switch to traditional Shakespearean dialogue and the length of the recitations. Though the actors faithfully followed the 90-minute script with great skill and attention to detail, this was a departure from the seamless blending of Shakespeare’s key concepts and themes earlier in the play. This tragedy within a play sequence disappointed the strong foundation earlier in the performance.
Despite the show’s varied execution of Shakespeare’s ideas, the final product was hilarious and endearing. Coupled with the cozy winter cottage set design by Colin Lansky ‘29, “A Midwinter Night’s Tale” felt familiar, like a vacation home, or a grandparents house.
The play excels in humor. The mixture of well-written jokes and exemplary acting helped immerse viewers in the plot’s absurdity. The 6-person ensemble fluidly played the humor and chemistry. The the established character relationships feeling palpable across their romantic, and not so romantic, connections.
The experience was akin to watching an episode of Seinfeld: funny, semi-foreseeable, and utterly absurd. Much like the classic sitcom, “A Midwinter Night’s Tale” takes an already outlandish foundation, combines two works of Shakespeare, and still is able to turn it right on its head. It turns the mundane into a funny, outlandish and exceptional tale, which is where the real magic of this play lies.
