The Winter’s Tale, Part 1: Some Ill Planet Reigns

Summary: The Angry Gods was an eight-part Associated-Rediffusion series for ITV Schools first transmitted from January to March 1961. The series offered the following programmes: programme 1, A Sacred Offering, a condensed Iphigenia at Aulis, plus brief extract from Bacchae; programmes 2-4, the Oresteia trilogy; and programmes 5-8, The Winter’s Tale in four parts. The first four programmes in the series were in 1963 re-transmitted as part of the series named Theatres and Temples: The Greeks.
Theatre play: The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare [more information]
Play synopsis: King Leontes of Sicily comes to believe his friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia, has been having an affair with his pregnant wife Hermione. Polixenes flees when Leontes attempts to poison him; Hermione is imprisoned, their son Mamilius dies of heartbreak and their newborn baby girl exiled. After sixteen years, during which time Leontes mourns the loss of his wife (whom he believes to be dead) and children, his son Florizel (Leontes’ son) falls in love with Perdita, the long-lost baby girl who has grown up in Bohemia as the daughter of a shepherd. The lovers are eventually accepted and Hermione, who has been living in seclusion, is found to be alive.
Production history: Performed around 1610-11.
Date of transmission: Wednesday 22 February 1961
Time: 3.15pm
Series: Schools; Angry Gods
Channel: ITV
Production company: Associated-Rediffusion (1955-1964)

Director

Pat Baker

Playwright

William Shakespeare

Adaptor of Script

Martin Worth

Composer

Eric Spear

Designer

Barbara Bates

Cast

Title: The Angry Gods (Archive file)
Archive: BFI Reuben Library [more information]
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Reference: ART/48/1-4
Notes: Including camera scripts, publicity brochures and leaflets sent to schools.

Title: The Angry Gods, comprising Iphigenia at Aulis, Oresteia and The Winter’s Tale (A-R for ITV Schools, 1961) (Blog article)
Author/creator: Amanda Wrigley (Author)
Reference: http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/itv-schools-the-angry-gods-1961, published 31 May 2012

Title: The Angry Gods: Independent Television Programmes for Schools (Brochure)
Reference: Posted online at http://www.broadcastforschools.co.uk/site/File:Drama_ITV_Angry_Gods_cover_spring_1961.jpg (accessed 26 September 2013)

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