Winter’s Tale

Jealousy and suspicion shape the tragic opening of The Winter’s Tale, one of Shakespeare’s final plays, yet in time romance and redemption ultimately lead to a happy ending. Leontes, King of Sicilia, convinced of his wife’s infidelity, is consumed by a jealous rage. Sure that she is pregnant with his old friend King Polixenes’ child and unmoved by the entreaties of his wife proclaiming her innocence, he tears his family apart. He imprisons his wife and sends the newborn daughter into exile, while Polixenes escapes back to his homeland of Bohemia. The years pass and in a pastoral haven a young girl, Perdita, raised by shepherds falls in love with a prince, Florizel. Thus begins a magical journey of love and redemption that will at last heal the family’s wounds.