Author: William Shakespeare

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-12-25

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 9780484727662

Excerpt from The Viola Allen Acting Version of the Winter's Tale: A Play in Four Acts The exigencies of the modern Theatre demand that a representation of any play shall be kept within the bounds of a certain stipulated space of time; it has therefore been found necessary, in order to comply with this custom in the present case, to curtail certain portions of the poet's work. That this should be done with reverence and with due respect for plot, poetical value, and literary merit, the opinions of many eminent Shakespearian scholars both here and in England have, as far as possible, been followed with great advantage to the general result. The sequence of the scenes in this edition is almost identical with that of the first folio of the play, the printing of which took place in the year 1623. The only transposition of any moment is that of the storm scene on the coast of Bohemia (act 11, Scene which here precedes the trial of Hermione in the palace of Leontes. The reason for this transposition is obvious, inas much as the end of the latter scene offers a better dramatic climax to the act of which, in this version, it is made to form a part. The prologue-like chorus of Time in the begin nin g of Act IV has been dispensed with, and Scenes 11 and III of Act IV, in the original, have been amalgamated, thus forming the first scene of Act III in the Acting Edition. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.