The Winter’s Tale

An odd combination of mad tragedy and hoodwinking comedy, hatred and love, prophetic answers ignored, a sixteen-year secret bond between a mother who loses her children and a wife who loses her husband, a magical ending. “I have drunk, and seen the spider."

This is a chart showing all the lines that each character has in each scene: The Winter's Tale

If your group reads the plays straight through in one sitting and you want to divide up the parts, we have a number of “cast” lists already divided up for you. These are text files that you edit to suit your group. We always recommend in a straight-through read that each participant take a moment beforehand to mark their parts—then everything proceeds so smoothly.

This link is to Marjorie Garber's free Harvard lecture on Winter's Tale.

The Internet Shakespeare from the University of Victoria web site provides links to source materials that Shakespeare used for the basic plot, as well as a few short articles about specific details in the play.

Amanda Mabillard provides a detailed plot summary and a number of short articles about the various characters in the play and other details.

Back to the Readers' Editions and readers' support page.

 

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This is an audio recording of the play by professional actors with sound effects: