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
Rich and Famous (play) Rich and Famous (play) Rich and Famous is a two-act play by John Guare. It premiered in 1974 at the Academy Festival Theatre in Lake Forest, Illinois, and made its Off-Broadway debut in 1976. Bing Ringling is an old "promising" playwright, finally about to have a play produced -- play number 844. "Rich and Famous" was first produced by William Gardner at the Academy Festival Theatre, in Lake Forest, Illinois, in August 1974. It was directed by Mel Shapiro and starred Charles Kimbrough, Linda Lavin, and Ron Leibman. Guare wrote the music for the play, which was performed by a