APPENDIX B
The History of the Play
The Winter's Tale was first 'allowed of,' or officially approved for performance, by Sir George Buck, who assumed office as Master of the Revels in 1610; consequently, although Buck did license plays before taking office, we may reasonably assume that it was not written previous to that year. Yet it was already on the stage by May 15, 1611, for a Dr. Simon Forman saw it acted on that date and has left a written record of the fact with an analysis of the plot. The dance of twelve satyrs in IV. iv. was probably suggested by a similar dance of satyrs in Ben Jonson's Masque of Oberon, first acted on the opening day of January, 1611. It seems practically certain, therefore, that the play was finished and first staged in the spring of 1611. It was for several years following a favorite at court, and in 1613 was acted with several other Shakespearean dramas before the Prince Palatine and his bride. No Quarto editions of it exist; apparently it first appeared in print in the Folio of 1623.
After Shakespeare's death the play, despite its beauty, was unpopular and almost unnoticed for over a century, more so than many of the author's other works. Certain fantastic qualities in it—the seacoast of Bohemia, a country which for centuries had no seacoast, and the sixteen-year interval between the third and fourth acts—jarred on the new age, an age which was more fastidious in such matters than the imaginative Elizabethans had been.
In 1741, however, The Winter's Tale—'not acted 100 years,' according to the historian Genest—was revived at Goodman's Fields, and the following year at the more famous theatre of Covent Garden. Soon afterward several adaptations of parts of it were made, the most notable being that of the great actor David Garrick (1717–1779), which was played at Drury Lane theatre in 1756. The play in Garrick's adaptation begins with what was Shakespeare's fourth act. The events of sixteen years earlier are rehearsed for the benefit of the audience in a conversation between Camillo and a gentleman. Then the repentant Leontes comes to Bohemia, takes part with Polixenes and Perdita in the conversation at the shepherd's feast, and assumes the part which Shakespeare gave Camillo of comforting the lovers. Florizel and Perdita do not take ship; and the closing statue scene is in Bohemia. Garrick's version was popular for more than a generation. The prosaic ingenuity with which he dovetailed together parts of Shakespeare's great work is well illustrated in the following passage:
Perd. One of these is true,
I think affliction may subdue the cheek,
But not take in the mind.
Leon. Yea, say you so?
There shall not at your father's house, these sev'n years,
Be born another such.
Flor. O reverend. Sir!
As you would wish a child of your own youth
To meet his happiness in love, speak for me;
Remember since you ow'd no more to time
Than I do now; and with thought of like affections,
Step forth my advocate.
Leon. You touch me deep,
Deep, to the quick, sweet prince; alas! alas!
I lost a daughter, that 'twixt heaven and earth
Might thus have stood begetting wonder, as
Yon lovely maiden does—of that no more;—
I'll to the king your father,—this our compact,
Your honour not o'erthrown by your desires,
I am friend to them and you.
The history of the play during the nineteenth century begins with its revival by John Philip Kemble (1757–1823). In 1802 he presented it with splendid decorations and stage properties, the famous Mrs. Siddons, who was Kemble's sister, taking the part of Hermione. The comedy was revived again in 1856 by Charles Kean (1811–1868) at the Princess's theatre, where Ellen Terry, then a little girl, made her first appearance on the stage as Mamillius. Helen Faucit (1817–1898) about the middle of the century, and Mary Anderson (1859–———) toward its close, gave brilliant interpretations of the leading female rôles. In 1910 in New York The Winter's Tale was admirably produced under the direction of Mr. Louis Calvert 'with such a stage and accessories as, according to the latest researches, Shakespeare had at his own command.' The most important presentation since then has been the one given by Mr. Granville Barker.