The Winter's Tale (Arden Shakespeare, Third Series)

by William Shakespeare, John Pitcher (Editor), Richard Proudfoot (Editor), Ann Thompson (Editor), David Scott Kastan (Editor)

Overview

One of Shakespeare's later plays, best described as a tragi-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione.

John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781903436356
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/01/2010
Series:	Arden Shakespeare Series
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English dramatist, poet, and actor, generally regarded as the greatest playwright of all time.

John Pitcher is is Lecturer and Fellow in English at St. John's College, Oxford, UK.

Professor Richard Proudfoot served as Senior General Editor of the Arden Shakespeare for 35 years, until his retirement from King's in 1999. In 2001 The Arden Shakespeare published Proudfoot's Shakespeare: Text, Stage and Canon a critical overview of the scholarly achievements made in the field of Shakespeare studies by the end of the twentieth century.

ANN THOMPSON is Emeritus Professor in English at King' s College London UK.

David Scott Kastan is the George M. Bodman Professor of English at Yale University, USA.

Henry Woudhuysen is Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, UK.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Editorial Reviews

a play where miracles do happen and redemption does eventually come, but at a terrible price” —Lyn Gardner, Guardian, 22.9.09

“Like all of Shakespeare's later plays, this is a realistic fairy tale” —John Peter, Sunday Times, 20.9.09

“Shakespeare's perturbing fable” —Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph, 18.12.10

“An age which loves science fiction and fantasy should take The Winter's Tale to heart” —Libby Purves, The Times, 18.12.10

“Cleverly and clearly designed for study, notes and commentary appear on the same page as the text and the introduction encompasses the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts as well as a survey of critical approaches.” —Sardines Magazine (Autumn 2010)

From the Publisher

Cleverly and clearly designed for study, notes and commentary appear on the same page as the text and the introduction encompasses the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts as well as a survey of critical approaches.

Sardines Theatre Magazine