"Exit pursued by a Bear" is one of the most famous of Shakespeare’s stage directions. Many Elizabethan theaters were used for bear-baiting, which is the practice of setting dogs to fight a chained bear and betting on which would win, so in early productions a live bear may actually have been used to chase Antigonus off the stage. This line also traditionally marks a shift in the structure of the play. Up until this point, the play is serious and even tragic, whereas from this point on, there is a real sense of a comedy.
