Last performed in 2002
Synopsis | Smart Guide
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Synopsis
King Leontes of Sicilia urges his lifelong friend King Polixenes of Bohemia to extend his visit at the Sicilian court. When Polixenes resists, Leontes asks his wife, Queen Hermione of Sicilia, to persuade their guest to stay. When she succeeds where her husband has failed, Leontes is embarrassed. His vexation builds into a raging jealousy, and he accuses Hermione of being unfaithful to him with Polixenes. After learning of Leontes' intent to have him killed, Polixenes flees to Bohemia.
Hermione is placed in prison, where she gives birth to a daughter. Suspecting that the baby is illegitimate, Leontes consigns her to abandonment at some desert place. The courtier who carries out the deed names the baby Perdita ("the lost one").
During Hermione's public trial for treason and adultery, two lords whom Leontes has dispatched to the shrine of Apollo return with the divine revelation (Oracle) that Hermione is guiltless. Leontes, however, persists in his false accusations.
The trial is interrupted with the announcement that the young prince Mamillius has died of anxiety. When Leontes learns of the boy's death, he repents, but it is too late to save Hermione, who swoons and is later reported dead. Leontes resolves to spend his life in solitary penitence.
The abandoned baby Perdita is rescued on the seacoast of Bohemia. Sixteen years later she falls in love with a handsome young prince named Florizello. Across a vast gulf of time and space, mysteries begin to unravel and reconciliation occurs, setting the stage for the recovery of "that which is lost."