The Winter's Tale

The Winter's Tale is an opera in three acts by Ryan Wigglesworth. The libretto is by the composer, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The opera, in a production directed by Rory Kinnear, and conducted by the composer, was premiered at the English National Opera on 27 February 2017. Roles Synopsis The opera follows the main story of the play, reduced to three acts, and dropping the character Autolycus, and some other well-known features of the play such as Antigonus's stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear". Act I is set in Sicily. Leontes is hosting his old friend Polixenes on a long visit; Leontes's wife Hermione is heavily pregnant. Leontes becomes obsessed with the notion that Polixenes is the father of the unborn child. He puts his wife on trial, even though the oracle of Apollo declares her to be innocent. The death of Mamillius, the son of Leontes and Hermione, during the trial causes Hermione to collapse, and to give birth. Hermione is assumed dead. The distraught Leontes orders Antigonus to abandon the newborn child, whom Antigonus names Perdita, in a distant land.