The Winter's Tale
Auditions
Saturday 17 March 2012 1:30 pm
Bruce Brown directs William Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale'
“A magical and life affirming play exploring the cycles of human life, the destructive capacity of jealousy and the struggle for understanding, forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Synopsis
Leontes, King of Sicily, imagines that his wife, Hermione, is committing adultery with their guest, Polixenes, King of Bohemia. After making an unsuccessful attempt to have Polixenes killed, Leontes throws Hermione into prison, where she gives birth to a daughter. Believing the child to have been fathered by Polixenes, Leontes orders that it be abandoned in the wilds. However, the child, named Perdita, is found by a shepherd, who decides to bring her up as his own. A pronouncement from the oracle at Delphi, confirming Hermione’s innocence and warning Leontes that he is in danger of dying without an heir, is followed by news of the death of Leontes’s young son, Mamillius. At this, Hermione collapses in shock, and word is later brought that she too has died. Smitten with remorse, Leontes becomes a recluse. Sixteen years later, Perdita, now a young woman, falls in love with Prince Florizel, the son of Polixenes. When Polixenes forbids his son to marry a mere shepherd girl, the lovers elope to Sicily, where Leontes’s long years of grief are brought to an end by the revelation of Perdita’s true identity – and by another even more miraculous reunion.
The late plays
Although the First Folio (1623) places The Winter’s Tale as the last play in the Comedy section, it is now more commonly grouped as one of four ‘late’ plays, along with Pericles, Cymbeline and The Tempest, so-called because they were written towards the end of Shakespeare’s life. They are also referred to as Romances. There are certain key themes running through these plays: the separation and reunion of family members, supernatural elements, jealousy, fate and apparent coincidences of plot, man and nature, to name just a few. Although the late plays are resolved ‘happily’, they lack in their closure the confident celebratory air of the Comedies.
Pandosto
The main source for The Winter’s Tale is Robert Greene’s prose romance Pandosto, a hugely popular story published in 1588 and reprinted many times in Shakespeare’s life. Although Shakespeare sticks quite closely to his source, and at various points practically duplicates word for word, there are a few key changes. For instance, he switches the countries, so that King Pandosto of Bohemia in Greene’s version becomes King Leontes of Sicilia. But by far the largest departure is in the endings. Greene leaves Bellaria (Hermione’s counterpart) dead. Pandosto (Leontes) commits suicide as he cannot bear to think of what he has done – including lusting after his own daughter. Shakespeare on the other hand, brings Hermione back to life in the statue scene and there is an attempt at reconciliation. Whereas the moral of Greene’s version would seem to be that time will tell and justice will be done, The Winter’s Tale suggests that time may heal.
Contact details
Bruce Brown
email: nzkiwinz@hotmail.com
telephone: 027 530 5813
script pdf for download: Internet Shakespeare Editions
Rehearsals
Commence Tuesday 3 April 2012
Tuesdays and Thursdays each week from 7.30pm
Sundays at 12.30pm
Season
Thursday 7 to Saturday 16 June 2012
Documentary
The audition and rehearsal process of The Winter's Tale will be filmed by a television production company with the view to the material becoming part of a documentary series. Everyone auditioning will be required to sign a release form allowing use of the material.
Cast Required
The cast requirements listed below are a general outline. Ages specified are guidelines only and are flexible.
“A magical and life affirming play exploring the cycles of human life, the destructive capacity of jealousy and the struggle for understanding, forgiveness and reconciliation.”
Synopsis
Leontes, King of Sicily, imagines that his wife, Hermione, is committing adultery with their guest, Polixenes, King of Bohemia. After making an unsuccessful attempt to have Polixenes killed, Leontes throws Hermione into prison, where she gives birth to a daughter. Believing the child to have been fathered by Polixenes, Leontes orders that it be abandoned in the wilds. However, the child, named Perdita, is found by a shepherd, who decides to bring her up as his own. A pronouncement from the oracle at Delphi, confirming Hermione’s innocence and warning Leontes that he is in danger of dying without an heir, is followed by news of the death of Leontes’s young son, Mamillius. At this, Hermione collapses in shock, and word is later brought that she too has died. Smitten with remorse, Leontes becomes a recluse. Sixteen years later, Perdita, now a young woman, falls in love with Prince Florizel, the son of Polixenes. When Polixenes forbids his son to marry a mere shepherd girl, the lovers elope to Sicily, where Leontes’s long years of grief are brought to an end by the revelation of Perdita’s true identity – and by another even more miraculous reunion.
The late plays
Although the First Folio (1623) places The Winter’s Tale as the last play in the Comedy section, it is now more commonly grouped as one of four ‘late’ plays, along with Pericles, Cymbeline and The Tempest, so-called because they were written towards the end of Shakespeare’s life. They are also referred to as Romances. There are certain key themes running through these plays: the separation and reunion of family members, supernatural elements, jealousy, fate and apparent coincidences of plot, man and nature, to name just a few. Although the late plays are resolved ‘happily’, they lack in their closure the confident celebratory air of the Comedies.
Pandosto
The main source for The Winter’s Tale is Robert Greene’s prose romance Pandosto, a hugely popular story published in 1588 and reprinted many times in Shakespeare’s life. Although Shakespeare sticks quite closely to his source, and at various points practically duplicates word for word, there are a few key changes. For instance, he switches the countries, so that King Pandosto of Bohemia in Greene’s version becomes King Leontes of Sicilia. But by far the largest departure is in the endings. Greene leaves Bellaria (Hermione’s counterpart) dead. Pandosto (Leontes) commits suicide as he cannot bear to think of what he has done – including lusting after his own daughter. Shakespeare on the other hand, brings Hermione back to life in the statue scene and there is an attempt at reconciliation. Whereas the moral of Greene’s version would seem to be that time will tell and justice will be done, The Winter’s Tale suggests that time may heal.
Contact details
Bruce Brown
email: nzkiwinz@hotmail.com
telephone: 027 530 5813
script pdf for download: Internet Shakespeare Editions
Rehearsals
Commence Tuesday 3 April 2012
Tuesdays and Thursdays each week from 7.30pm
Sundays at 12.30pm
Season
Thursday 7 to Saturday 16 June 2012
Documentary
The audition and rehearsal process of The Winter's Tale will be filmed by a television production company with the view to the material becoming part of a documentary series. Everyone auditioning will be required to sign a release form allowing use of the material.
Cast Required
The cast requirements listed below are a general outline. Ages specified are guidelines only and are flexible.
No characters are listed for this production.