The Winter's Tale at Actors' Shakespeare Project

Actors’ Shakespeare Project continues its season-long exploration of “Affairs of the Heart,” examining the darker side of love as a catalyst for cruelty and redemption with Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. Directed by OBIE Award winner Melia Bensussen, ASP brings this story of heartbreak and emotional resurrection to Willet Hall at United Parish, 210 Harvard Street in Brookline, from December 10, 2015 to January 3, 2016.

In a fit of unfounded jealousy, Leontes (Allyn Burrows), the King of Sicily, becomes convinced his best friend Polixenes (Nigel Gore), the King of Bohemia, and not he, has impregnated his wife Hermione (Mara Sidmore). What starts as irrational quickly turns tyrannical, as, sure of his betrayal, Leontes wrecks his marriage, condemns his new child, and destroys his life-long friendship. Lest sublime romance be lost to tragedy, through the passing of 16 years, and the enduring power of love, forgiveness wins out, bringing audiences one of the most astonishing and magical endings in English literature.