Cymbeline

Description

The secret marriage of a king's daughter sets off a chain reaction of slander, jealousy, and divine intervention in this fairy tale-like romance. Shakespeare based his play on myths of an early Celtic king of Britain, incorporating historical elements from classical Rome and Renaissance Italy. With a cast that includes an evil stepmother, scheming suitor, and devoted lovers, the drama is heightened by duels, kidnappings, and disguised identities. Cymbeline offers captivating storytelling that's crowned by the beauty of its language. Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, and countless others have quoted Act IV's funeral song: "Fear no more the heat o' th' sun/Nor the furious winter's rages;/Thou thy worldly task hast done,/Home art gone and ta'en thy wages." A moving story of loss and recovery, Shakespeare's drama promises that a leap of faith can lead to miracles.

"He was not of an age, but for all time," declared Ben Jonson of his contemporary William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Jonson's praise is especially prescient, since at the turn of the 17th century Shakespeare was but one of many popular London playwrights and none of his dramas were printed in his lifetime. The reason so many of his works survive is because two of his actor friends, with the assistance of Jonson, assembled and published the First Folio edition of 1623.