A NOISE WITHIN’S 2019-2020 REPERTORY THEATRE SEASON STUDY GUIDE William Shakespeare’s The Winter's Tale February 9–April 11 Edu Viola Allen as Hermione (Act 5, scene 3), 1904. Byron Company, New York. STUDY GUIDES FROM A NOISE WITHIN A rich resource for teachers of English, reading, arts, and drama education. Dear Reader, We’re delighted you’re interested in our study guides, designed to provide a full range of information on our plays to teachers of all grade levels. 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Alicia Green DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION Special thanks to our Dinner On Stage donors TABLE OF CONTENTS who kept the arts thriving this year by supporting our Student Matinees (SMATs): Character Map ......................................4 SMAT PERFORMANCE SPONSOR ($5,000 AND ABOVE) Synopsis ...........................................5 Richard Green Barbara Lawrence Jeanie & Terry Kay Terri Murray About the Playwright: William Shakespeare ............... 7 William & Priscilla Kennedy Richard & Sally Roberts Timeline of Shakespeare’s Life ..........................8 Sheila & Alan Lamson Historical Context: Elizabethan Society ...................9 SCHOOL SPONSOR ($2,500 AND ABOVE) Bill & Clarie Bogaard Julie & Lance Markowitz A Woman’s Lot: Kathleen & Bruce & Valerie Merritt The Roles and Rights of Women in Elizabethan Society ..... 11 James Drummy Lyn Spector Sheila Grether-Marion & Lois Tandy William Shakespeare’s Romance Plays ...................13 Mark Marion Liz & Rhodes Trussell Barbara Henderson A Tale Re-Told: The Source Material for The Winter’s Tale ...14 A Change in the Weather: CLASS SPONSOR ($1,000 AND ABOVE) The Winter’s Tale Molly Bachmann Eugene Kapaloski The Role of Seasons in . 15 Meg Huntington Cajero Thomas & Gloria Lang Themes ........................................... 17 Jack & Becky Doody Jay Lesiger Fred & Sandy Engler Cynthia Nunes & Justice and Injustice ............................... 17 Armando Gonzalez Barbara Nye Diane Grohulski Diana Peterson-More Jealousy ......................................... 17 Schuyler & Gail Samuel & Honor and Loyalty .................................18 Deborah Hollingsworth William Christian Robert & Jennifer Israel Margaret Sedenquist Redemption and Forgiveness ........................18 Denise Jay Tribune Direct Miranda Johnson-Haddad Vickie Taylor Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and the Molly Joseph Transformative Power of Theatre ......................19 WORKSHOP SPONSOR ($500 AND ABOVE) Try Your Hand at Shakespeare ......................... 21 Robert Cathcart Elyse Klein Cecilia Center Bob Low, in honor of wife Words Coined by Shakespeare ........................22 John Cushman Anni Frandsen Low, The Art of the Shakespearean Insult ....................23 Julie Daniels Ph.D. Patrick Garcia Alan Miller Pre-Show Preparation: Research .......................24 Sandra Greenstein Julia Rodriguez-Elliott Selma Holo & Fred Croton Janet Samuel Pre-Show Preparation: Activities .......................25 David Holtz Deborah Strang Essay Questions ...................................26 Forsight Creations Donna Tucker, in memory Jim Kelly of Beverly Parks Tucker Additional Resources ................................ 27 Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Loretta Vigil Jason King Marianne Wallace David & Julia Zuckerman A NOISE WITHIN’S EDUCATION PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY: BUS SPONSOR ($350 AND ABOVE) Wendy Alden Allan Mohrman Ann Peppers Foundation The Green Foundation Anonymous Scott Myers Capital Group Companies Kenneth T. and Julie Fox Blackshaw Norma Richman Mary Hacker Edmund Roberts Michael J. Connell Foundation Eileen L. Norris Foundation Ilona Linden Daniel Rothmuller Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Nancy Macky Chromatic The Dick and Sally Roberts Joan Mills Interactive Media Coyote Foundation Steinmetz Foundation The Jewish Community Dwight Stuart Youth Fund ADDITIONAL DONORS Jerry Gallagher & Jan Sanders Foundation Gerard Clarke Linda Saurenman Margaret Grossman Stuart Semigran Margaret Koch Angela Conner & Irene Lacher Kevin Speaks Mark Nelson Sallie Strang 4 A NOISE WITHIN 2019/20 REPERTORY SEASON | Spring 2020 Study Guide The Winter's Tale CHARACTER MAP Leontes Hermione Polixenes King of Sicilia. He is married to Queen of Sicilia. She is married to King of Bohemia and longtime friend of Hermione and is a longtime friend of Leontes and is pregnant with her Leontes. He stays with Leontes during Polixenes. He quickly grows jealous of second child at the start of the play. a nine-month trip to Sicilia. the friendship between Hermione and Polixenes. Shepherd Perdita’s foster father. After finding Perdita abandoned in Bohemia, he raises her. Clown The shepherd’s son and Perdita’s step- brother. Mamillius Perdita Florizel Son of Hermione and Leontes. He is Daughter of Hermione and Leontes. Son of Polixenes and heir to the the heir to the Sicilian throne. Leontes believes her to be an Bohemian throne. He falls in love with illegitimate child and orders for her to Perdita. be left outside in the countryside on her own as a baby. She is raised by a shepherd in Bohemia. Antigonus Paulina Camillo A courtier in Sicilia, he is married to Lady-in-waiting to Hermione, she is A courtier in Sicilia and friend of Paulina. He is charged with abandoning married to Antigonus. She remains loyal Leontes. Despite Leontes’ wishes, Perdita when she is a baby. to Hermione throughout the play. Camillo saves Polixenes’ life and travels with Polixenes to Bohemia where he lives for sixteen years. Cleomenes Dion Autolycus A courtier in Sicilia. A courtier in Sicilia. A peddler, singer, and thief. He is a con man who attends a gathering at the shepherd’s home in Bohemia. 5 A NOISE WITHIN 2019/20 REPERTORY SEASON | Spring 2020 Study Guide The Winter's Tale SYNOPSIS Polixenes, the king of Bohemia, has been in Sicilia for made a false accusation. However, the sight of the child some time as a guest of the king, Leontes—the two are sends Leontes into a great fit of anger. Convinced that old and dear friends. Eager to see his wife and son as the baby is the illegitimate child of Polixenes, Leontes well as to attend to matters in his own land, Polixenes orders Antigonus, Paulina’s husband, to take baby into decides his stay must come to an end. However, when the wilderness and to abandon it. Antigonus reluctantly Hermione, Queen of Sicilia and Leontes’ wife, pleads that agrees. he delay his trip home, Polixenes concedes to stay in After Antigonus leaves, Leontes calls Hermione into court Sicilia for one additional week. to stand trial. In front of a panel of judges, Hermione Seeing the effect that Hermione’s persuasion has had on maintains her innocence. During the trial, the messenger Polixenes, Leontes begins to suspect that Hermione and who travelled to Delphos returns, carrying a scroll Polixenes are having an affair. Leontes then enlists his from the oracle that confirms Hermione’s innocence. friend, Camillo, to poison Polixenes. However, Camillo Unsatisfied with the oracle, Leontes decides to punish is confident that both Hermione and Polixenes are Hermione regardless. However, before he is able to innocent, and instead of poisoning the king of Bohemia, pass a sentence, a servant enters with the news that Camillo helps Polixenes escape Sicilia and travels with Mamillius, Hermione and Leontes’ first child, has died. him to Bohemia. Shocked at the news, Hermione faints and is carried out Desperate to know if there is truth in his suspicions, of the courtroom by her maids. Paulina soon returns to Leontes sends a messenger to seek advice from Apollo’s the courtroom to announce that Hermione, herself, has oracle in Delphos while he sends Hermione to prison died with grief. With this news, Leontes begins to see the for adultery. While awaiting trial, she gives birth to a falseness of his accusations and vows to spend the rest of baby girl. As she recovers, Paulina, Hermione’s lady-in- his life repenting. waiting, brings the baby to Leontes, hoping that the Meanwhile, Antigonus arrives in Bohemia with the baby. sight of the child will cause Leontes to realize that he has He names the baby Perdita and leaves her on the shore with a bag of gold and a box of documents that reveal her true identity. However, before he returns to his ship, Antigonus is chased and killed by a bear. Not long after Perdita is left on shore, a shepherd finds her. He and his son decide to rescue her and raise her. Sixteen years later, Perdita has grown into a young woman. She and Florizel, Polixenes’ son and the prince of Bohemia, have fallen in love. Polixenes, having heard a rumor that Florizel has been spending an inordinate amount of time at a house in