The Winter's Tale (opera) British composer's first opera." The Winter's Tale (opera) The Winter's Tale is an opera in three acts by Ryan Wigglesworth. The libretto is by the composer, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. The opera, in a production directed by Rory Kinnear, and conducted by the composer, was premiered at the English National Opera on 27 February 2017. The opera follows the main story of the play, reduced to three acts, and dropping the character Autolycus, and some other well-known features of the play such as Antigonus's stage direction "Exit, pursued by a bear". Act I
The Bear Dances the rich were powerful might be replaced by a régime where the powerful are rich." Despite approval of its subject-matter ("Any study of conditions in Soviet Russia is certain at the moment to command attention," noted "The Spectator") and praise for the directing, acting, and designs, the reviewers found "The Bear Dances" "overladen with pamphleteering argument, on both sides". "The play's weakness lies in its tendency to repeated pleading," observed Ivor Brown in "The Week-end Review". "Heavy blue pencilling would have given this play a chance of life," agreed John Pollock in "The Saturday Review". "The Stage" conceded that the