"The game is up..."
Based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobeline, Cymbeline is among the last plays Shakespeare wrote in the period between 1608 and 1613.
It was first produced in 1611, two years before Shakespeare's Globe theater burned to the ground and five years before Shakespeare's death.
Like Othello and The Winter's Tale, it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy.
The plight of Cymbeline's daughter, Imogen, is at the center of the play.
After she marries the commoner, Posthumus against her father's wishes, Posthumus is exiled and forced to flee for Rome, where he meets the villain Iachimo who bets Posthumus that he can seduce Imogen.
The lovers' faith is tested by villains at home and abroad.
With the Roman army threatening their home, King Cymbeline must fight for his kingdom as his daughter fights for her husband.
Will love conquer all, or will jealousy's ensnare the star-crossed couple?
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) was an English playwright poet, and actor, regarded as the world's pre-eminent dramatist, and the greatest writer in the English language. Author of such timeless works as Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet and King Lear, he is often called the "Bard of Avon," England's national poet.
