The Winter s Tale — William Shakespeare

The Winter s Tale is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623 Although it was grouped among the comedies many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare s late romances Some critics consider it to be one of Shakespeare s problem plays because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama while the last two acts are comic and supply a happy ending The play has been intermittently popular revived in productions in various forms and adaptations by some of the leading theatre practitioners in Shakespearean performance history beginning after a long interval with David Garrick in his adaptation Florizel and Perdita first performed in 1753 and published in 1756 The Winter s Tale was revived again in the 19th century when the fourth pastoral act was widely popular In the second half of the 20th century The Winter s Tale in its entirety and drawn largely from the First Folio text was often performed with varying degrees of success