The tempest is a comedy even though the play is filled with moments that can end in chaos but are greatly avoided. The story begins with the ship of Alonso king of Naples in a huge storm, which is called a “Tempest”. Which is conjured by the story’s protagonist Prosper who is the resident witch of the island and who is also the rightful duke of Milan. Prospered main goal is to restore her and her daughter Marinara’s rightful place in Milan by using magic and manipulation on the shipwrecked king and his council with the help of her spirit servant Ariel.
However they spot the son of King Alonso named Ferdinand. Miranda is struck by Ferdinand arrow and they become an item very quickly Just as Prosper planned. Mean while Alonso and his council are looking all over the island to find Ferdinand but are having no luck in finding him. Alonso had recently married his daughter away and is having an emotional time accepting this with also the possible death of his son. Gonzalez is the Kings right hand and is a very honorable man however Antonio and Sebastian see his weakness and plot to kill him and gain power and nobility.
However Ariel ends up disrupting their plan and causes Alonso and Gonzalez to awaken and stop the plan. Miranda and Ferdinand begin to court and Prosper reminds them to remain pure until marriage they perform the ceremony with the help of Ariel. However it ends abruptly when it is brought to attention an attempt on Prospered life from 3 drunken men. Prosper also calls Ariel to bring Alonso to her and she explains how Ferdinand and Miranda are married and also they begin to talk on the past. This is where the story shows Prospered human side and how easily she forgave her rather who plotted to kill her so many years ago.
The overall quality of the play was good however I believe they missed an opportunity to make this play amazing. The main reason it was not taken well was because of the drawn out scenes that bored us. Another reason is the lighting in certain scenes that would blind the audience. Some of the actors did not have very clear movements and expressions. For example as said in class the 3 individuals who were signing the play had very good facial expressions that clearly represented the emotions of the characters. The costumes were very similar and did not show a clear difference between a king and his council, which confused many people.
The Play was set on an island between Africa and Milan where the tempest has caught the ship. The style looked to be somewhat sass’s with the men’s suits and Riel’s look. I find this very interesting because even though the language is dated it felt very fresh with the new look. The type of stage used was a thrust stage, which is my favorite kind of stage because it gives more space for the actors and brings the audience into the experience. The Major challenges of this play were the language, costumes, and the stage.
Some of the actors began to fumble over a few lines and some ran over the lines of others. I think it shows that performing Shakespearean plays is very difficult and the language and the way it tools is like a language we don’t know. The Kings costume was very much like his council so he needed to be a very big character to show that he had power, however he was very soft spoken and was not seen as a character of power or a king. The stage Challenges the actors because it is a bigger space that incorporates the audience and it allows for bigger and bolder movements.
But if not used properly you can look as if you haven’t moved or you’re moving to much. The strongest performance came from Ariel mainly due to her big actions and her great expression that really took our attention away from all the main characters. The question of whether it was worth going to will be relative to all of us, and to me I believe it was. First off I believe most of the play was well done Just a few parts I would have taken out. Also I think it shows us how important expressions and actions re needed to convey emotions to not only those who are in theater.
I would recommend this play to those who have not seen any plays and ask them all the questions you have asked us. I think this is a good starter play to watch because it had both bad and great qualities that are easily noticed. Viewing this play as a student I saw many representations of what we are learning. For example in class we learn that on stage its better to be bigger than subtle to help convey messages and Alonso in this production was very subtle and id not show major qualities of nobility in my eyes.
I wanted to see bigger and more of leader, he looked very lost and sad. Even though he did lose his son and Just married a daughter away a king would never been seen as sad it would portray weakness, no king would want this to be seen. Ariel and Clinical show how good movements and expressions can really help you. Just like in class when you give us one on one time with a group you help show us things we don’t seen in the subtext that can give us movements and expressions.
