WORLD renowned theatre company, Cheek by Jowl, make a long overdue return to the Mercury Theatre in Colchester later this month with their version of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

One of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, The Winter’s Tale, though written at the same period as The Tempest, smashes all the rules that The Tempest follows. Unity of time, place and action are hurled aside as the audience is taken across Europe, from court to country, from high tragedy to low comedy, across a time span of 16 years.

As apt today as it was when Shakespeare wrote it, The Winter’s Tale tells of a delusional and paranoid king who tears his family apart. But this is the new Shakespeare, after he completed his great tragedies, and the tough struggle for redemption yields flickers of hope. Initial darkness gives way to joy as time leads the characters to a shattering conclusion.

Actor Orlando James has been a firm fixture with the company since graduating from drama school and is also making a welcome return to Colchester where he got to know the town and the theatre very well.

The Winter's Tale runs at the Mercury Theatre from March 14 to 18 at 7.30pm with an extra 2pm show on the Saturday.

For tickets call the box office on 01206 573948 or go on-line at www.mercurytheatre.co.uk

I'm told you put Colchester on the map the last time you came. How did that happen?

"Not quite. I started writing a travel-type blog, for actors really. I know what it's like when you're touring and you don't know a place. Basically you want to find where the best place is to get a coffee and so when I was with Cheek by Jowl and we came to Colchester, that's what I did. If you're interested, and in my humble opinion, it's the Culver Street Baristas. I'm told it's still there which is great."

How long have you been working with Cheek by Jowl?

"This is my third tour with the company. The first one was Macbeth, which was back in 2011/12 after I had just graduated from the Drama Centre. The second tour was Tis Pity She's A Whore, which was the last one that came to Colchester and now I'm doing this fabulous production. They're a brilliant company and so just to have one show with them would have been great but to do three is has been really amazing."

Cheek by Jowl are well known for their long tours. Is The Winter's Tale any different?

"It's a dream job for an actor not only because the tour is so long and vast but also with the rehearsal process as well. That's ten weeks in itself and by the time we're finished later this summer in Russia, I would have been on the road, off and on, for about two years.

"We opened in Paris in January and we've just come back from the US where we performed in Chicago and New York. We've also been to Taiwan and Hong Kong. We not actually doing that many shows in the UK. As well as Colchester, we go to Bristol, Oxford, Wales, Warwick and the Barbican in London."

What's been the response so far?

"It's definitely been interesting how different audiences have received it. The Winter's Tale is about a tyrant who isn't very nice to women who then sets about destroying the entire kingdom, shutting himself off from his neighbours so in the current political climate, that's resonated with a lot of people.

"It was certainly a little weird doing it in the US, especially with the election going on at the same time."