======================================================================
= The_Winter's_Tale =
======================================================================
Introduction
======================================================================
'The Winter's Tale' is a play by William Shakespeare originally
published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among
the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of
Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics consider it to be one of
Shakespeare's "problem plays" because the first three acts are filled
with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comic
and supply a happy ending.William W. Lawrence, 'Shakespeare's Problem
Comedies', New York, Macmillan, 1931; pp. 9-13
.
The play has been intermittently popular, having been revived in
productions and adaptations by some of the leading theatre
practitioners in Shakespearean performance history. In the mid-18th
century, after a long interval without major performances, David
Garrick premiered his adaptation 'Florizel and Perdita' (first
performed in 1753 and published in 1756). 'The Winter's Tale' was
revived again in the 19th century, when the fourth "pastoral" act was
widely popular. In the second half of the 20th century, 'The Winter's
Tale' was often performed in its entirety, drawn largely from the
First Folio text, with varying degrees of success.
Characters
======================================================================
'Sicilia'
* Leontes - The King of Sicily, and the childhood friend of
Polixenes, King of Bohemia.
* Hermione - The virtuous and beautiful Queen of Sicily.
* Camillo - An honest Sicilian nobleman.
* Paulina - A noblewoman of Sicily.
* Antigonus - Paulina's husband, and also a loyal friend of Hermione.
* Dion - A Lord of Sicily.
* Cleomenes - A Lord of Sicily.
* Mamillius - The young prince of Sicily, Leontes and Hermione's son.
* Emilia - One of Hermione's ladies-in-waiting.
* Gaoler - Charged with imprisoning Hermione.
* Mariner - His ship takes Antigonus to Bohemia.
'Bohemia'
* Polixenes - The King of Bohemia, and Leontes's childhood friend.
* Florizel - Polixenes's only son and heir.
* Perdita - The daughter of Leontes and Hermione, unaware of her
royal lineage.
* Shepherd - An old and honourable sheep-tender.
* Clown - or Young Shepherd, the Old Shepherd's buffoonish son, and
Perdita's adoptive brother.
* Autolycus - A roguish peddler, vagabond, and pickpocket.
* Mopsa - A shepherdess, in love with Young Shepherd.
* Dorcas - A shepherdess, in love with Young Shepherd.
'Other Characters'
* Archidamus - A lord of Bohemia, visiting Sicily with his king.
* Lords, servants, gentlemen, ladies in Sicilia
* Shepherds, shepherdesses, servants in Bohemia
Synopsis
======================================================================
Following a brief introductory scene, the play begins with the
appearance of two childhood friends: Leontes, King of Sicily, and
Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. Polixenes is visiting the kingdom of
Sicily, and is enjoying catching up with his old friend. However,
after nine months, Polixenes yearns to return to his own kingdom to
tend to affairs and see his son. Leontes cannot persuade Polixenes to
stay longer, so he decides to send his wife, Queen Hermione, to try to
convince him. Hermione agrees and with three short speeches is
successful. Leontes is surprised that Hermione could convince
Polixenes so easily, so he begins to suspect that his pregnant wife
has been having an affair with the other king. Leontes orders Camillo,
a Sicilian lord, to poison Polixenes. Camillo instead warns Polixenes
and they both flee to Bohemia.
Furious at their escape, Leontes publicly accuses his wife of
infidelity and declares that the child she is bearing must be
Polixenes' bastard. He throws her in prison, over the protests of his
nobles, and sends two of his lords, Cleomenes and Dion, to the Oracle
at Delphos for confirmation of his suspicions. Meanwhile, the queen
gives birth to a girl, and her loyal friend Paulina takes the baby to
the king, hoping that the sight of the child will soften his heart. He
grows angrier, however, and orders Paulina's husband, Lord Antigonus,
to take the child and abandon it in a desolate place. Cleomenes and
Dion return from Delphos with word from the Oracle and find Hermione
on trial, asserting her innocence. The Oracle states categorically
that Hermione and Polixenes are innocent, that Camillo is an honest
man, and that Leontes will have no heir until his lost daughter is
found. Leontes refuses to believe the oracle, but soon learns that his
son Mamillius has died of a wasting sickness brought on by the
accusations against his mother. At this, Hermione falls in a swoon and
is carried away by Paulina, who subsequently reports the queen's death
to her heartbroken and repentant husband. Leontes vows to spend the
rest of his days atoning for the loss of his son, his abandoned
daughter, and his queen.
Antigonus, meanwhile, abandons the baby on the coast of Bohemia,
reporting that Hermione appeared to him in a dream and bade him name
the girl Perdita. He leaves a fardel (a bundle) by the baby containing
gold and other trinkets to suggest that the baby is of noble blood. A
violent storm suddenly appears, wrecking the ship on which Antigonus
arrived. He wishes to take pity on the child, but he is chased away in
one of Shakespeare's most famous stage directions: "Exit, pursued by a
bear." Perdita is rescued by a shepherd and his son, also known as
"Clown".
"Time" enters and announces the passage of sixteen years. Camillo, now
in the service of Polixenes, begs the Bohemian king to allow him to
return to Sicily. Polixenes refuses and reports to Camillo that his
son, Prince Florizel, has fallen in love with a lowly shepherd girl,
Perdita. He suggests to Camillo that they disguise themselves and
attend the sheep-shearing feast where Florizel and Perdita will be
betrothed. At the feast, hosted by the Old Shepherd (who has prospered
thanks to the gold in the fardel), the pedlar Autolycus picks the
pocket of the Young Shepherd and, in various guises, entertains the
guests with bawdy songs and the trinkets he sells. Polixenes and
Camillo watch, disguised, as Florizel (under the guise of a shepherd
named Doricles) and Perdita are betrothed. Polixenes tears off his
disguise and intervenes, threatening the Old Shepherd and Perdita with
torture and death and ordering his son never to see the shepherd's
daughter again. Camillo, still longing for his native land, schemes to
send Florizel and Perdita to Sicily, so that Polixenes will bring him
along when he pursues them. The lovers take ship for Sicily, as do the
two shepherds and Autolycus.
In Sicily, Leontes is still in mourning. Cleomenes and Dion plead with
him to end his time of repentance because the kingdom needs an heir.
Paulina, however, convinces the king to remain unmarried forever,
since no woman can match the greatness of his lost Hermione. Florizel
and Perdita arrive and are greeted effusively by Leontes. Florizel
pretends to be on a diplomatic mission from his father, but his cover
is blown when Polixenes and Camillo, too, arrive in Sicilia. The
meeting and reconciliation of the kings and princes is reported by
gentlemen of the Sicilian court: how the Old Shepherd raised Perdita,
how Antigonus met his end, how Leontes was overjoyed at being reunited
with his daughter, and how he begged Polixenes for forgiveness. The
Old Shepherd and Young Shepherd, now made gentlemen by the kings, meet
Autolycus, who asks them for their forgiveness for his roguery.
Leontes, Polixenes, Camillo, Florizel and Perdita then go to Paulina's
house in the country, where a statue of Hermione has been recently
finished. The sight of his wife's form makes Leontes distraught, but
then, to everyone's amazement, the statue shows signs of vitality: it
is Hermione, miraculously restored to life--or simply having lived in
seclusion with Paulina for the last sixteen years. As the play ends,
Perdita and Florizel are engaged, and the whole company celebrates the
miracle. Despite this happy ending typical of Shakespeare's comedies
and romances, the impression of the unjust death of young prince
Mamillius lingers to the end, which, combined with the years wasted in
separation, brings an element of unredeemed tragedy to the play.
Sources
======================================================================
The main plot of 'The Winter's Tale' is taken from Robert Greene's
pastoral romance 'Pandosto', published in 1588. Shakespeare's changes
to the plot are uncharacteristically slight, especially in light of
the romance's undramatic nature, and Shakespeare's fidelity to it
gives 'The Winter's Tale' its most distinctive feature: the
sixteen-year gap between the third and fourth acts. This distinctive
feature violates the Classical Unities, a set of principles for
dramatic tragedies that was introduced in 16th-century Italy based on
the work of Aristotle.
There are changes in names, places, and minor plot details, but the
largest changes lie in the survival and reconciliation of Hermione and
Leontes (Greene's Pandosto) at the end of the play. The character
equivalent to Hermione in 'Pandosto' dies after being accused of
adultery, while Leontes' equivalent looks back upon his deeds
(including an incestuous fondness for his daughter) and slays himself.
The survival of Hermione, while presumably intended to create the last
scene's coup de théâtre involving the statue, creates a distinctive
thematic divergence from 'Pandosto'. Greene follows the usual ethos of
Hellenistic romance, in which the return of a lost prince or princess
restores order and provides a sense of humour and closure that evokes
Providence's control. Shakespeare, by contrast, sets in the foreground
the restoration of the older, indeed aged, generation, in the reunion
of Leontes and Hermione. Leontes not only lives, but seems to insist
on the happy ending of the play.
It has been suggested that the use of a pastoral romance from the
1590s indicates that at the end of his career, Shakespeare felt a
renewed interest in the dramatic contexts of his youth. Minor
influences also suggest such an interest. As in 'Pericles', he uses a
chorus to advance the action in the manner of the naive dramatic
tradition; the use of a bear in the scene on the Bohemian seashore is
almost certainly indebted to 'Mucedorus', a chivalric romance revived
at court around 1610.
* Brooke, C. F. Tucker. 1908. 'The Shakespeare Apocrypha,' Oxford,
Clarendon press, 1908; pp. 103-126.
* Chaney, Edward, 'The Evolution of the Grand Tour: Anglo-Italian
Cultural Relations since the Renaissance' 2nd ed.(Routledge, 2000).
* Gurr, Andrew. 1983. "The Bear, the Statue, and Hysteria in 'The
Winter's Tale'", 'Shakespeare Quarterly 34' (1983), p. 422.
* Halliday, F. E. 1964. 'A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964,'
Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p. 532.
* Hanmer, Thomas. 1743. 'The Works of Shakespeare' (Oxford, 1743-44),
vol. 2.
* Isenberg, Seymour. 1983. "Sunny Winter", 'The New York Shakespeare
Society Bulletin', (Dr. Bernard Beckerman, chairman; Columbia
University) March 1983, pp. 25-26.
* Jonson, Ben. "Conversations with Drummond of Hawthornden", in
Herford and Simpson, ed. 'Ben Jonson', vol. 1, p. 139.
* Kalem, T. E. 1980. "Brooklyn Bets on Rep", 'Time Magazine', 3 March
1980.
* Lawrence, William W. 1931. 'Shakespeare's Problem Comedies',
Macmillan, New York. OCLC 459490669
* Von Lippmann, Edmund O. 1891. "Shakespeare's Ignorance?", 'New
Review' 4 (1891), 250-254.
* McDowell, W. Stuart. 1983. Director's note in the program for the
Riverside Shakespeare Company production of 'The Winter's Tale', New
York City, 25 February 1983.
* Pafford, John Henry Pyle. 1962, ed. 'The Winter's Tale', Arden
Edition, 1962, p. 66.
* Tannenbaum, Dr. Samuel A. 1933. " Shakespearean Scraps", chapter:
"The Forman Notes" (1933).
* Verzella, Massimo, "Iconografia femminile in The Winter's Tale",
Merope, XII, 31 (sett chism and anti-Petrarchism in The Winter's Tale"
in Merope, numero speciale dedicato agli Studi di Shakespeare in
Italia, a cura di Michael Hattaway e Clara Mucci, XVII, 46-47 (Set.
2005- Gen. 2006), pp. 161-179.
Date and text
======================================================================
The play was not published until the First Folio of 1623. In spite of
tentative early datings (see below), most critics believe the play is
one of Shakespeare's later works, possibly written in 1610 or 1611. A
1611 date is suggested by an apparent connection with Ben Jonson's
'Masque of Oberon', performed at Court 1 January 1611, in which
appears a dance of ten or twelve satyrs; 'The Winter's Tale' includes
a dance of twelve men costumed as satyrs, and the servant announcing
their entry says "one three of them, by their own report, sir, hath
danc'd before the King." (IV.iv.337-338). Arden Shakespeare editor
J.H.P. Pafford found that "the language, style, and spirit of the play
all point to a late date. The tangled speech, the packed sentences,
speeches which begin and end in the middle of a line, and the high
percentage of light and weak endings are all marks of Shakespeare's
writing at the end of his career. But of more importance than a verse
test is the similarity of the last plays in spirit and themes."
In the late 18th century, Edmond Malone suggested that a "book" listed
in the 'Stationers' Register' on 22 May 1594, under the title "a
Wynters nightes pastime", might have been Shakespeare's, though no
copy of it is known. In 1933, Dr. Samuel A. Tannenbaum wrote that
Malone subsequently "seems to have assigned it to 1604; later still,
to 1613; and finally he settled on 1610-11. Hunter assigned it to
about 1605."
Title of the play
===================
A play called "The Winter's Tale" would immediately indicate to
contemporary audiences that the work would present an "idle tale", an
old wives' tale not intended to be realistic, and that it would offer
the promise of a happy ending. The title may have been inspired by
George Peele's play 'The Old Wives' Tale' of 1590, in which a
storyteller tells "a merry winter's tale" of a missing daughter. Early
in 'The Winter's Tale', the royal heir, Mamillius, warns that "a sad
tale's best for winter". His mother is soon put on trial for treason
and adulteryand his death is announced seconds after she is shown to
have been faithful and Leontes's accusations unfounded.
The statue
============
While the language Paulina uses in the final scene evokes the sense of
a magical ritual through which Hermione is brought back to life, there
are several passages which suggest a far likelier case - that Hermione
simply fainted, rather than died, at her trial in Act III, and that
Paulina hid her at a remote location to protect her from Leontes'
wrath and that the re-animation of Hermione does not derive from any
magic. The Steward announces that the members of the court have gone
to Paulina's dwelling to see the statue; Rogero offers this
exposition: "I thought she had some great matter there in hand, for
she [Paulina] hath privately twice or thrice a day, ever since the
death of Hermione, visited that removed house" (5.2. 102-105).
Further, Leontes is surprised that the statue is "so much wrinkled",
unlike the Hermione he remembers. Paulina answers his concern by
claiming that the age-progression attests to the "carver's
excellence", which makes her look "as [if] she lived now". Hermione
later asserts that her desire to see her daughter allowed her to
endure 16 years of separation: "thou shalt hear that I, / Knowing by
Paulina that the oracle / Gave hope thou wast in being, have preserved
/ Myself to see the issue" (5.3.126-129).
However, the action of 3.2 calls into question the "rational"
explanation that Hermione was spirited away and sequestered for 16
years. Hermione swoons upon the news of Mamillius' death, and is
rushed from the room. Paulina returns after a short monologue from
Leontes, bearing the news of Hermione's death. After some discussion,
Leontes demands to be led toward the bodies of his wife and son:
"Prithee, bring me / To the dead bodies of my queen and son: / One
grave shall be for both: upon them shall / The causes of their death
appear, unto / Our shame perpetual" (3.2). Paulina seems convinced of
Hermione's death, and Leontes' order to visit both bodies and see them
interred is never called into question by later events in the play.
The seacoast of Bohemia
=========================
Shakespeare's fellow playwright Ben Jonson ridiculed the presence in
the play of a seacoast and a desert in Bohemia, since the landlocked
Kingdom of Bohemia (corresponding to the western part of the
modern-day Czech Republic) had neither a coast nor a desert.
Shakespeare followed his source (Robert Greene's 'Pandosto') in giving
Bohemia a coast, though he reversed the location of characters and
events: "The part of Pandosto of Bohemia is taken by Leontes of
Sicily, that of Egistus of Sicily by Polixenes of Bohemia". In support
of Greene and Shakespeare, it has been pointed out that for a brief
period in the 13th century, the territories ruled by Ottokar II of
Bohemia did stretch to the Adriatic, even though Bohemia strictly
speaking did not; so that if one takes "Bohemia" to mean all of the
territories ruled by Ottokar II, it would have been possible to sail
from Sicily to the "seacoast of Bohemia". Jonathan Bate offers the
simple explanation that the court of King James was politically allied
with that of Rudolf II, and the characters and dramatic roles of the
rulers of Sicily and Bohemia were reversed for reasons of political
sensitivity, and in particular to allow it to be performed at the
wedding of the Princess Elizabeth.
In 1891, Edmund Oscar von Lippmann pointed out that "Bohemia" was also
a rare name for Apulia in southern Italy. More influential was Thomas
Hanmer's 1744 argument that Bohemia is a printed error for Bithynia,
an ancient nation in Asia Minor; this theory was adopted in Charles
Kean's influential 19th-century production of the play, which featured
a resplendent Bithynian court. At the time of the medieval Kingdom of
Sicily, however, Bithynia was long extinct and its territories were
controlled by the Byzantine Empire. On the other hand, the play
alludes to Hellenistic antiquity (e.g. the Oracle of Delphos, the
names of the kings), so that the "Kingdom of Sicily" may refer to
Greek Sicily, not to the Kingdom of Sicily of later medieval times.
This is irreconcilably contradicted by Hermione's identity as a
princess of Russia, a country that did not exist in the classical
period.
The pastoral genre is not known for precise verisimilitude, and, like
the assortment of mixed references to ancient religion and
contemporary religious figures and customs, this possible inaccuracy
may have been included to underscore the play's fantastical and
chimeric quality. As Andrew Gurr puts it, Bohemia may have been given
a seacoast "to flout geographical realism, and to underline the
unreality of place in the play".
A theory explaining the existence of the seacoast in Bohemia offered
by C. H. Herford is suggested in Shakespeare's chosen title of the
play. A winter's tale is something associated with parents telling
children stories of legends around a fireside: by using this title, it
implies to the audience that these details should not be taken too
seriously.
John A. Pitcher argues in the Arden Shakespeare Third Series edition
(2010) that the coast of Bohemia is intended as a joke, akin to jokes
about a "Swiss Navy".
In the novel 'Prince Otto' by Robert Louis Stevenson reference is made
to the land of Seaboard Bohemia in the context of an obvious parody of
Shakespeare's apparent liberties with geography in the play.
The Isle of Delphos
=====================
Likewise, Shakespeare's apparent mistake of placing the Oracle of
Delphi on a small island has been used as evidence of Shakespeare's
limited education. However, Shakespeare again copied this locale
directly from 'Pandosto'. Moreover, the erudite Robert Greene was not
in error, as the Isle of Delphos does not refer to Delphi, but to the
Cycladic island of Delos, the mythical birthplace of Apollo, which
from the 15th to the late 17th century in England was known as
"Delphos". Greene's source for an Apollonian oracle on this island
likely was the 'Aeneid', in which Virgil wrote that Priam consulted
the Oracle of Delos before the outbreak of the Trojan War and that
Aeneas after escaping from Troy consulted the same Delian oracle
regarding his future.
The bear
==========
The play contains the most famous of Shakespearean stage directions:
'Exit, pursued by a bear', presaging the offstage death of Antigonus.
It is not known whether Shakespeare used a real bear from the London
bear-pits or an actor in bear costume. The Admiral's Men, the rival
playing company to the Lord Chamberlain's Men during the 1590s, are
reported to have possessed "j beares skyne" among their stage
properties in a surviving inventory dated March 1598. Perhaps a
similar prop was later used by Shakespeare's company.
Shakespeare's day to the Restoration
======================================
The earliest recorded performance of the play was reported by Simon
Forman, the Elizabethan "figure caster" or astrologer, who noted in
his journal on 11 May 1611 that he saw 'The Winter's Tale' at the
Globe playhouse. The play was then performed in front of King James at
Court on 5 November 1611. The play was also acted at Whitehall during
the festivities preceding Princess Elizabeth's marriage to Frederick
V, Elector Palatine, on 14 February 1613. Later Court performances
occurred on 7 April 1618, 18 January 1623 and 16 January 1634. It was
not revived during the Restoration, unlike many other Shakespearean
plays.
18th and 19th century
=======================
'The Winter's Tale' was performed in 1741 at Goodman's Fields Theatre
and in 1742 at Covent Garden. Adaptations, titled 'The Sheep-Shearing'
and 'Florizal and Perdita', were acted at Covent Garden in 1754 and at
Drury Lane in 1756. Notable stagings in the 19th century included
those featuring John Philip Kemble in 1811, Samuel Phelps in 1845 and
Charles Kean in an 1856 production that was famous for its elaborate
sets and costumes. Johnston Forbes-Robertson played Leontes memorably
in 1887.
20th century
==============
Herbert Beerbohm Tree took on the role of Leontes in 1906. The
longest-running Broadway production starred Henry Daniell and Jessie
Royce Landis and ran for 39 performances in 1946. One of the best
remembered modern productions was staged by Peter Brook in London in
1951 and starred John Gielgud as Leontes. In the Guthrie Theater's
1976-1977 season, Michael Langham directed a Minneapolis production
with Ken Ruta as Leontes and Helen Carey as Hermione; also featuring
Barbara Bryne, Tony Mockus, Mark Lamos and Oliver Cliff. In 1980,
David Jones, a former associate artistic director of the Royal
Shakespeare Company, chose to launch his new theatre company at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) with 'The Winter's Tale' starring
Brian Murray supported by Jones' new company at BAM In 1983, the
Riverside Shakespeare Company mounted a production based on the First
Folio text at The Shakespeare Center in Manhattan. In 1993 Adrian
Noble won a Globe Award for Best Director for his Royal Shakespeare
Company adaptation, which then was successfully brought to the
Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1994. In 1997, a production at Boise
State University was directed by Gordon Reinhart and starred Ira Amyx,
James B. Fisk, Richard Klautsch and Randy Davison as Polixenes.
21st century
==============
In 2009, four separate productions were staged. Sam Mendes inaugurated
his transatlantic "Bridge Project" directing 'The Winter's Tale' with
a cast featuring Simon Russell Beale (Leontes), Rebecca Hall
(Hermione), Ethan Hawke (Autolycus), Sinéad Cusack (Paulina), and
Morven Christie (Perdita). The Royal Shakespeare Company mounted the
show. Theatre Delicatessen also staged productions of 'The Winter's
Tale' in 2009. The play is in the repertory of the Stratford Festival
of Canada and was seen at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Central
Park, in 2010. Last, the Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey
presented a production as part of their annual Shakespeare in the
Parks series, set in central Europe during the early 1900s era of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire but with a decidedly diverse cast. African
American actors Tony White played Leontes, Deirdre Ann Johnson played
Hermione, and Monica Jones in a dual role of Mamillius and Perdita.
Angela Liao appeared as Paulina.
In 2013, the RSC staged a new production directed by Lucy Bailey,
starring Jo Stone-Fewings as Leontes and Tara Fitzgerald as Hermione.
This production premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on 24
January 2013.
In 2015, the Kenneth Branagh Production company staged the play at the
Garrick Theatre, with simultaneous broadcast to cinemas. The
production featured Kenneth Branagh as Leontes, Judi Dench as Paulina,
and Miranda Raison as Hermione. The same year, Cheek by Jowl staged
the play, directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod.
The production toured globally, including to France, Spain, the US and
Russia, and was livestreamed around the world in a partnership with
the BBC and Riverside Studios.
In 2017, The Public Theatre Mobile Unit staged the play, directed by
Lee Sunday Evans. In 2018, Theatre for a New Audience staged the play
Off-Broadway, directed by Arin Arbus with Kelley Curran as Hermione
and Anatol Yusef as Leontes.
In 2018, the play was also performed at Shakespeare's Globe, in
London. The Globe staged it again in 2023, in a production where the
audience walked between the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (where the
Sicilian scenes were staged) and the main Globe Theatre (where the
Bohemian scenes were staged).
Also in 2023, Empty Space Productions and The University of New
England staged a production in Armidale, Australia. The Folger Theatre
in Washington, DC staged a production directed by Tamilla Wodard that
fall as the first play shown in the Theatre after its multi-year,
multimillion-dollar renovation.
The play was performed at Boston's "Shakespeare on the Common" for
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in July and August, 2024, and was
directed by Bryn Boice.
The play was part of the 2025 season of the Stratford Festival.
In 2025, the American Players Theatre, a regional company based in
Spring Green, WI, staged "The Winter's Tale" during its 2025 season.
Adaptations
======================================================================
There have been numerous film versions, including a 1910 silent film,
a 1961 television film starring Robert Shaw, and a 1967 version
starring Laurence Harvey as Leontes. An "orthodox" BBC production was
televised in 1981. It was produced by Jonathan Miller, directed by
Jane Howell and starred Robert Stephens as Polixenes and Jeremy Kemp
as Leontes. French director Eric Rohmer references the play during a
sequence in his 1992 film, 'A Tale of Winter', in which the characters
attend a performance.
Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon created a full-length ballet, with
music by Joby Talbot, based on the play. The ballet is a co-production
between The Royal Ballet and National Ballet of Canada, and premiered
in Royal Opera House in London in 2014.
In 2015, author Jeanette Winterson published the book 'The Gap of
Time', a modern adaptation of 'The Winter's Tale'. In 2016, author E.
K. Johnston published 'Exit, Pursued by a Bear', another modern
adaption.
On 1 May 2016, BBC Radio 3's 'Drama on 3' broadcast an audio
production directed by David Hunter, with Danny Sapani as Leontes, Eve
Best as Hermione, Shaun Dooley as Polixenes, Karl Johnson as Camillo,
Susan Jameson as Paulina, Paul Copley as the Shepherd and Faye
Castelow as Perdita.
An opera by Ryan Wigglesworth, based on the play, was premiered at the
English National Opera on 27 February 2017.
In 2021 Melbourne Shakespeare Company produced an abridged musical
production directed by Jennifer Sarah Dean at Central Park in
Melbourne.
External links
======================================================================
*
*
*
[
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/facsimile/book/Bran_F1/295/?work=WT
Scans of the First Folio version of the play]
*
[
http://william-shakespeare.classic-literature.co.uk/the-winters-tale/
'The Winters Tale'] - HTML version of this title.
*
* [
http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/concordance/ A thorough (open
source) concordance of all of Shakespeare's plays]
*
[
https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections/810eac30-e3fb-012f-c5b6-0019b9e633c5-e/items?q=Winter%27s+Tale
Set Design] for the 1948 production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre -
[
https://digital.library.illinois.edu/collections/810eac30-e3fb-012f-c5b6-0019b9e633c5-e
Motley Collection of Theatre & Costume Design]
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winter's_Tale
