The Winter’s Tale

Celebrating the transformative power of storytelling, Theatricum Botanicum artistic director Ellen Geer opens the 2004 summer repertory season with William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.

King Leontes, in a jealous rage, accuses his wife of adultery with his best friend, King Polixenes. Leontes then casts out his baby daughter, Perdita, to die. Years pass, and Perdita secretly grows up as a shepherdess in Polixenes’ kingdom. When Polixenes discovers his son has fallen in love with Perdita, he forbids their marriage and the lovers flee. Through the inadvertent help of a comic pickpocket and two shepherds, the lovers and their parents are reunited and old wounds are healed through the forgiving power of love.