
One of Shakespeare&s later plays best described as a tragi-comedy the play falls into two distinct parts In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione & his best-friend & imprisons her & orders that her new born daughter be left to perish The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds & now in love with a young prince The play ends with former lovers & friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione John Pitcher&s lively introduction & commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play & its success in performance As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre