Winter's Tale

A beautiful adaptation especially written for secondary school students to perform. Here is the story of good versus evil and the power of time to heal all wounds. Leontes, without warning, suddenly believes his visiting boyhood friend, Polixenes, is in love with Leontes' wife Hermione. Leontes even goes so far as to order his friend poisoned and Hermione thrown in jail where she has a baby girl. It never occurs to Leontes he could be wrong, even though the Oracle of Apollo showed the couple's innocence. Sixteen years later the child, Perdita, who has been raised by a shepherdess, becomes engaged to Prince Florizel, Polixene's son. After a joyful reunion with his lost daughter, Leontes sees a statue which comes alive, revealing itself as Hermione who has waited all this time to return to her husband. In this adaptation, great effort has been made to create more female roles such as Cleomenes, Dion, Archidamas, and the old shepherdess of Bohemia. The minor female roles have been expanded in some places, especially in Act 5, Scene 2 where they participate in the description of the reunion between the kings and the lost princess. In addition, there are "freeze frame" moments, mostly in the first act, which allow the audience to get familiar with the identities of the characters and to view the relationships of the characters through telling tableaus.