| 350px commissioned by the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery for printing and display.
The Winter's Tale
 is a play by William Shakespeare, first published in the First Folio
 in 1623. Although it was listed as a comedy when it first appeared, some modern editors have relabeled the play a romance. Some critics, among them W. W. Lawrence (Lawrence, 9-13), consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays", because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and supply a happy ending. 
 Nevertheless, the play has occasionally been extremely popular, and enjoyed theatrical productions in various forms and adaptations by some of the leading theatre practitioners in Shakespeare performance history, beginning with David Garrick in his adaptation called Florizel and Perdita
 (first performed in 1784 and published in 1756), and again in the nineteenth century, when the third "pastoral" act was widely popular.  In the second half of the twentieth century The Winter's Tale
, in its entirety and drawn largely from the First Folio text, was often performed, with varying degrees of success, for the first time since it was first performed in London in 1611.
 
 
 | THE WINTER'S TALE TICKETS | 
    
350px commissioned by the 
Boydell Shakespeare Gallery for printing and display.
The Winter's Tale
 is a play by 
William Shakespeare, first published in the 
First Folio
 in 1623. Although it was listed as a comedy when it first appeared, some modern editors have relabeled the play a 
romance. Some critics, among them 
W. W. Lawrence (Lawrence, 9-13), consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "
problem plays", because the first three acts are filled with intense 
psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and supply a 
happy ending. 
Nevertheless, the play has occasionally been extremely popular, and enjoyed theatrical productions in various forms and adaptations by some of the leading theatre practitioners in Shakespeare performance history, beginning with 
David Garrick in his adaptation called 
Florizel and Perdita
 (first performed in 1784 and published in 1756), and again in the nineteenth century, when the third "pastoral" act was widely popular.  In the second half of the twentieth century 
The Winter's Tale
, in its entirety and drawn largely from the 
First Folio text, was often performed, with varying degrees of success, for the first time since it was first performed in London in 1611.