The Winter's Tale play contains one of the most famous Shakespearean stage directions: "Exit, pursued by a bear", presaging the offstage death of Antigonus. It is not known whether Shakespeare used a real bear from the London bear-pits, or an actor in bear costume. The Royal Shakespeare Company, in one production of this play, used a large sheet of silk which moved and created shapes, to symbolise both the bear and the gale in which Antigonus is travelling. One comic moment in the play deals with a servant not realising that poetry featuring references to dildos is vulgar, presumably from not knowing what
The Bear (play) counted 33 cases of swooning and combined these three plays with swooning as the key comedic gag. The play had its premiere in Korsh Theatre in Moscow on October 28, 1888. "The Bear" was a success from the start. In Chekhov's lifetime it brought in regular royalties, and it has constantly been revived on both professional and amateur stages worldwide since. Chekhov, who often referred to his own writing in self-deprecating ways, remarked on his success: "I've managed to write a stupid vaudeville which, owing to the fact that it is stupid, is enjoying surprising success." The play is the