The Quiz!

TEMPEST QUIZ

The Tempest has many characters and various plots that all intertwine to create a very compelling story. To help keep you on track with who's who and what's what, take the quiz to discover how much you understand! Who is Ferdinand's brother? Is Sycorax the mother of Ariel? Test your knowledge against the quiz!

"Flash Quiz - The Tempest." Fun Trivia Quizzes - World's Largest Trivia and Quiz Site! Web. 07 Mar. 2011. <http://www.funtrivia.com/flashquiz/index.cfm?qid=291180>.

Run Lovers, Run!

Just for fun! :D

Romeo, where for art thou?
http://www.flasharcade.com/adventure-games/romeo-game.html

In all seriousness though, comparing scripts between Romeo and Juliet and the Tempest; Both feature naive lovers, which is a theme Shakespeare is very fond of. In all their purity and charm, Ferdinand and Romeo are the models of pure romanticism. Charming to a fault, I can only imagine Ferdinand's fate would be identical to Romeo's if only they had changed settings. In fact! Romeo and Ferdinand are so alike, this guy on facebook took the liberty of combining their names in the name of love!

http://www.facebook.com/romeo.ferdinand

Costume

The costumes of the Tempest are the best part of the show. They are fairy-tale like! Magically! Artistic! And basically allow for the freedom any designer would want on a show or need. Ariel and Caliban are two of the main characters that have a ton of freedom with their design. They are the two spirit/creatures closest to Prospero and therefore have to be the most visually appealing. Above there is a picture of Ariel with some of the nymphs and this production chose to put feathery wings onto him. Though it is visually stunning and does work with the interpretation of the character, I feel like we should go less in the way of a bird. I picture Ariel in whites and blues, maybe some cloth on him but he's more simplistic when compared to the harsh, stoney characteristics of Caliban.

Caliban is typically played by an African-American and is a hunky, hard character. He's an abomination of Sycorax and that should translate into his costume. A good example of Caliban is below.

Set design for the Tempest

When producing a production of the Tempest, a designer typically jumps to the classic deep blues and purples of a swelling Tempest. I propose we try something different.

I'd like to show the beauty of the island of which they are all being stranded. In past productions, much focous has been placed on the tempest and the blues involved but I think straying away from the blues a touch could make for a visually stunning piece.

I feel like playing with colors, vibrant colors, would make the stage pop in a way that audiences hadn't seen before. It would double as a romantic setting for Ferdinand and Miranda as well as a twisted take on the brain controlled island when Prospero attacks the victims.

Rorschach Tempest or The Tempest of William S. Performed by flies on the erection of a dreaming Hyena

Is the Tempest fluff?

"Don't ask me why, people who would steal milk from blind children wouldn't say an unkind word about the Tempest. At the mere mention of the play they sigh and fawn. Halfof the species has actually played Miranda or Prospero, those insipid avatars of innocence and benevolence. To say anything negative about the play is heresy. It’s become a flytrap of superlatives, the omphalos and firmament of everything good in the human spirit, transcendent wisdom. It has come to represent everything to everyone." (Pg. 86)

In the article Rorschach Tempest or The Tempest of William S. Performed by Flies on the Erection of a Dreaming Hyena by Teddy Jefferson, an i9nteresting point of view is taken which is actually negative towards the Tempest. It talks about how over rated the Tempest is and that really it is fluff. I find this interesting because even at the beginning of the article the author was enthrawled in directing the show.

Jefferson, Teddy. "Rorschach Tempest or The Tempest of William S. Performed by Flies on the Erection of a Dreaming Hyena." Shakespeare Quartery 61.1 (2010): 78-107. Print.

Oxford Reference Online

The Tempest

- Printed as the first play in the Folio, The Tempest has always enjoyed a special prominence in the Shakespeare canon. Its first recorded performance took place at James I's court on 1 November 1611, and it cannot have been much more than a year old then. The Tempest is indebted to three texts unavailable before the autumn of 1610, namely William Strachey's True Reportary of the Wrack and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates (completed in Virginia in July 1610, and circulated in manuscript before its eventual publication in 1625), Sylvester Jourdan's Discovery of the Bermudas (printed in 1610, with a dedication dated 13 October ), and the Council of Virginia's True Declaration of the Estate of the Colony in Virginia (entered in the Stationers' Register in November 1610 and printed before the end of the year). An apparently irresistible urge to identify Prospero with Shakespeare (visible since the 1660s) has led many commentators to think of The Tempest as the playwright's personal farewell to the stage, and while this view seems both sentimental and slightly inaccurate (since Shakespeare was yet to co-write Cardenio, All Is True (Henry VIII), and The Two Noble Kinsmen with Fletcher), this probably was his last unassisted work for the theatre, completed in 1611. Its position in the Folio may reflect his colleagues' recognition of this fact.



Oxford Reference Online has some interesting things to say about Shakespeare's the Tempest.



Michael Dobson , Anthony Davies  "Tempest, The"  The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells. Oxford University Press, 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.  Northern Ireland Public Libraries.  22 February 2011  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t117.e2823>

The Spectacle of the Tempest

Julie Taymor has it right in this new upcoming film version of the Tempest. The magic, and spirits, creatures and nymphs that inhabit the island of the Tempest allow for an amazing use of spectacle on the stage. As opposed to Macbeth or King Lear, Tempest has the freedom to fully realize the capabilities of the theatre and our designers can go crazy. Spectacle definately helps to sell tickets!

"YouTube - The Tempest Trailer (HD)." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 21 Feb. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdpQcFdfXdY>.