Winter’s Tale, The

Synopsis: Video recording, using a single, fixed camera, of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1986 production of The Winter’s Tale. Directed by Terry Hands with Penny Downie as Hermione/Perdita and Jeremy Irons as Leontes.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 10 Dec 1986
Duration: 170 mins

Director

Terry Hands

Writer

William Shakespeare

Music

Nigel Hess

Production Design

Gerard Howland

Costume

Alexander Reid

Cast

Notes: .
General: Extract from an interview with Irons given to the Academy of Achievement in October 2000 `...I opened with Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, who has to be one of Shakespeare’s hardest, I think. I always feel that he said to Burbage after he played Othello, "Right, you’ve done jealousy. Now I’m going to give you jealousy with no reason. Just play it. Come on, play it." And I’d been off filming maybe for too long and I came back and I didn’t have the wherewithal to embrace him in time for the critics. So I got pretty mauled doing that. And I thought, "Well, great, I’ve got time to learn."
History: Press night 20 April 1986
Stills: Stills from, and design notes on, the production are available on the Arts and Humanities Performing Arts Data Service (AHDS) at http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/collections/designing-shakespeare.htm
Reviews: Tatspaugh, Patricia E. The Winter’s Tale. (Shakespeare at Stratford series). London: Arden Shakespeare in association with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, 2002. Studies the directing, staging, designing, and acting of The Winter’s Tale in Royal Shakespeare Company productions directed by Anthony Quayle, Peter Wood, Trevor Nunn, John Barton and Trevor Nunn, Ronald Eyre, Adrian Noble, Terry Hands, and Gregory Doran

Name: Royal Shakespeare Company
Web: https://www.rsc.org.uk External site opens in new window
Address: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
CV37 6BB