There’s something about opening “The Winter’s Tale” on the weekend of the summer solstice that’s as cheeky as Shakespeare’s story.

Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company presented the play Friday at Dog Story Theater in Grand Rapids for a small audience of less than twenty people. Although well acted and creatively interpreted, this is one of the lesser-known plays and Pigeon Creek’s minimalist approach appeals to a niche audience.

Early in the play the young prince Mamillius tells his mother that a sad tale is best for winter. Certainly the story that unfolds is horrifyingly sad. But it turns slapstick in the middle and happily ever after in the end.

It’s the story of best friends, Leontes (Scott Lange), King of Sicilia, and his pal Polixenes (Kathleen Bode), King of Bohemia. Leontes is overcome with jealousy. He believes his pregnant wife, Hermione (Sarah Stark) is in love with Polixenes. Leontes tells his advisor, Camillo to poison Polixenes, but instead the two men flee to Bohemia. Leontes has his wife arrested for treason. By the time her trial is over, she and the young prince Mamillius (Arielle Leverett) have died and the king has sent his newborn daughter to be abandoned in the woods.

Up to this point, “A Winter’s Tale” is pure Shakespearean tragedy, with all the good dramatic performances that requires. The Pigeon Creek company has chosen to present the tale in a sort of mixed modern dress with gentlemen wearing suits but carrying swords. Royalty is designated by thin headband crowns. Sets are minimalistic, almost non-existent in the small studio theater.

As with all Pigeon Creek productions, casting is cross gender with only slight costume changes to make male actors appear to be ladies-in-waiting or female actors to be a king or male servant.

But when the play moves to Bohemia in the second act, the mood shifts to slapstick. The baby is found by a shepherd (Michael Dodge)who’s dressed in overalls. His son (Chad Marriott) is a hog-calling rube out of “Hee Haw.”

Shakespeare wrote this part as comic relief with the son as a clown who meets a pick-pocket minstrel . The Pigeon Creek company stretches the hayseed image to the max adding a line dance and an ensemble of raucous buffoons.

Sixteen years have passed and the baby has grown into a beautiful shepherdess, Perdita (Arielle Leverett). She is in love with a farm hand who is actually the prince Florizel (Joseph Cox) in diguise.

King Polixenes and Camillo paste on outrageous mustaches as pseudo-disguises and head to the sheep shearing party to see what the prince is up to.

When the king discovers the Prince’s romance, he reveals himself and promises all manner of evil will befall the shepherd. With Camillo’s help, the young couple flee to Sicilia, where Perdita is recognized as the long-lost daughter of Leontes. The storybook ending is more magical than a Disney movie.

Pigeon Creek’s approach of minimal sets, cross-gender and double casting is not only practical for a small company performing in a small space, it’s also authentic in some respects to the way plays were presented in Shakespeare’s time. It relies on strong performances from the cast to create characters. And it requires imagination on the part of the audience.

For the most part, the company provides the necessary strong performances, as well as the all-important clear diction so Shakespeare’s words can be understood. Only when Polixenes and Camillo were wearing outrageous mustaches did it become difficult to understand the words.

It’s also fun that Pigeon Creek uses universal lighting as was the practice in Shakespeare’s time. The stage and the audience are lit equally so the actors talk to the audience members and even interact with them.

But the double casting is often confusing. We know Polixenes has left for Bohemia , but it’s a little disconcerting when the actress we’ve agreed to accept as this male king pops up as a male servant, with only a different shirt and slacks, and minus the thin crown. The face is so much the same that it is hard to force yourself not to see Polixenes.

The same is true when Scott Lange, who is King Leontes in Act I, becomes the minstrel in Act II, changing little more than his shirt and crown. Since I had never seen “The Winter Tale” before, I wasn’t sure at first but what the king was disguising himself as a minstrel. I figured out that wasn’t the case but still there’s not enough of a difference in the look between the two characters.

The one time this doubling works well is when Arielle Leverett portrays both the young prince, Mamillius, and his sister Perdita. The family resemblance seems logical.

But the audience has been schooled to look past logic. To ignore resemblance. To overlook race and gender and see only the performance. That’s quite a lot to demand from both the audience and the actors.