Sixteen years and one notorious stage direction (“Exit, pursued by a bear”) later, the play turns to Bohemia, sheep-shearing, and the next generation, and begins moving toward forgiveness.
The final scene is one of the great coups of theatre, and the less you know going in, the better — if any ending in Shakespeare deserves spoiler protection, it is this one. The pairing of cruelty and grace makes it, for many readers, the essential late play.
Which edition?
1Arden Shakespeare, Third Series
Ed. John Pitcher · Bloomsbury
Pitcher is superb on the statue, and on what sixteen years does to a play.
2Oxford World’s Classics
Ed. Stephen Orgel · Oxford University Press
Orgel writes about the play’s impossibilities better than anyone.
3The New Cambridge Shakespeare
Ed. Susan Snyder & Deborah T. Curren-Aquino · Cambridge University Press
The best available edition of the play, and the one that takes Hermione seriously.
4Folger Shakespeare LibraryFirst read? Start here
Ed. Barbara Mowat & Paul Werstine · Simon & Schuster
Leontes’s jealousy is famously abrupt; the glosses keep you moving through it.
Winter's Tale on stage
Winter's Tale on screen
1The Winter's Tale (1981)
TV film · dir. Jane Howell
BBC Television Shakespeare
2Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale (2015)
Stage capture · dir. Kenneth Branagh, Rob Ashford
Judi Dench as Paulina; Garrick season broadcast
Seven Ages recommends editions on their merits and takes no payment for placement. As an Amazon Associate, Seven Ages earns from qualifying purchases.
Reading Winter's Tale this year?
Mark it in your record when you finish — one seat, kept for decades.