Leontes, the King of Sicilia, rashly accuses his pregnant queen, Hermione, of having committed adultery with his childhood friend Polixenes, the King of Bohemia.
It is with this intrigue and the ensuing banishment of the new-born “bastard” princess, that the magical narrative unfolds. Autolycus, courtly rogue and omnipotent magician, brings the protagonists to life. The audience is transported from the high drama of court into the pastoral world of low-born rustics. Sixteen years have passed and it is festival time. The old shepherd, his son, his adoptive daughter Perdita, and her fiancé Doricles are pleased to welcome strangers to a sheep-shearing feast.
Yet all is not as it seems: Perdita is the Sicilian princess, Doricles is actually Prince Florizel of Bohemia and his friend Camillo, both in disguise. Royal scheming and the problems of succession, combined with the mystical world of carnival, leave no doubts, even to the mind of a contemporary audience, about the fragility of monarchy and the society which upholds it.

Cast

Crew