A lone figure, venerable and archaically dressed, steps onto the bare stage: ‘To sing a song that old was sung / From ashes ancient Gower is come.’ Probably begun by a hack dramatist in 1607 and completed by Shakespeare in 1608, Pericles marks a fresh departure for the master after his exclusive focus on tragedy in the previous few years (Macbeth, King Lear, Timon of Athens, Antony and Cleopatra and the contemporaneous Coriolanus). In his next group of plays, Shakespeare worked in a much more mellow form. The sea, the voyage, the storm, the unlucky and lucky chances, the years of quest and grief, the child lost and found, the resurrection of the apparently dead: this is the matter of the enduring literary form of romance.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, must solve a riddle in order to marry the daughter of the King of Antioch, or be put to death. But when the answer reveals a horrific secret, the young man faces his greatest dilemma. Danger and adventure follow as Pericles flees the city to find his fortune elsewhere, in a romantic drama of families lost and reunited, evil punished and virtue rewarded.

William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564—23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of around 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.