The Winter Fairy Tale

Previously on “The Winter’s Tale”: King Leontes is losing his mind – to longing, to titles, to mistrust. He accuses his friend Polixenes of having an affair with his wife Hermione. Polixenes is able to escape an attempt on his life, Hermione ends up in prison and her newborn child is left out in the woods. The Oracle says: Leontes, you’ve lost it! If it sounds crazy, that’s because it is!

Shakespeare’s late masterpiece, often described as a romance, picks up again 16 years later: Leontes is living with regret and Hermione has disappeared from the picture. Her formerly abandoned child falls in love with Polixenes‘ son. What is to be done? A festival is being celebrated where all knots are meant to be tied – and untied. A dress-up mess-up between two kingdoms. A wedding follows a kiss. And a woman feigns death.