Olney Theatre Center’s
Audience Context Guide for
The Tempest
Table of Contents
2
History of the Play
3
The World of William Shakespeare
4
The Age of Exploration
6
Synopsis
8
Meet the Characters
9
Prospero’s “So Potent Art”
10
Q&A: JulieAnn Elliott
12
Q&A: Jacob Mundell
14
Activity Pages
16
HOW to use
this guide
N
ow in its 66th year, National Players has fostered a rich tradition of producing Shakespeare on epic proportions, not in terms of set and costumes (they are limited, after all, to what they can take on the road for months at a time) but in terms of education and outreach. Tour 65 alone completed 95 performances, 100 workshops and dozens of Q&As in 55 different venues across 21 states. Although this production of The Tempest is staying right here in Olney, Maryland, the spirit of National Players is an integral part of the storytelling process. The actors bring their unique experiences and lessons from their years on the road, and we hope to emulate their dedication to audience enrichment through this supplemental guide. Hopefully, this Context Guide will broaden your understanding of the play and make it an even more comprehensive experience. Along with basic facts about The Tempest and insight into Shakespeare’s world, this guide includes interviews with National Players alum (pages 12 and 14) as well as a four-page activity section for younger audience members to enjoy. For even more information, please visit our dramaturgy blog at www.olneytempest.wordpress. com or reach out to us at education@olneytheatre.org.
ABOUT the Play O
ften labeled Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage, The Tempest offers a unique bookend to the playwright’s prolific career; although it was his last independently written play, his friends commemorated the work by including it as the opening play in the First Folio compendium of his works. Shakespeare probably wrote The Tempest in 1611 or late 1610 at the earliest. Although it is one of only three plays with no direct literary source, Shakespeare was influenced by the social and political climate of his day. He references, for example, reports from the 1609 shipwreck of the Sea Venture (see page 8), as well as popular commentaries on exploration and occultism. The play’s first recorded performance was on Hallowmass (November 1) 1601, “at Whitehall before King James; it was also one of the plays that the King’s Men performed for the wedding festivities of the Princess Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine in the winter of 1612. In fact, one theory holds that Shakespeare inserted the masque into the play as a surprise for the betrothed couple. Along with the distinction of being Shakespeare’s second-shortest play, The Tempest is one of two that adheres to Aristotle’s three classic unities. These include unity of action (a play should have one main action with limited subplots), unity of place (a play should cover a single physical space), and unity of time (the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours). From the mid-17th to mid-19th centuries, The Tempest was only staged in majorly adapted forms. The most popular reimagining of the play was Wil-
Did you know?
S
hakespeare was very deliberate when he named his characters; in many cases, names reveal clues about characters’ personalities or histories. A few notable examples of hidden meanings behind names in The Tempest include: Prospero: Prosperous Miranda: Wonder Caliban: Cannibal Ferdinand: Brave journey Ariel: God’s lion Trinculo: To drink greedily Stephano: Belly or stomach liam Devenant and John Dryden’s 1667 Restoration adaptation, The Tempest, or, The Enchanted Island. This version, along a subsequent operatic adaptation, appealed to aristocratic sensibilities by emphasizing the story’s themes of class and social structure. It also made major cuts and additions, adding romantic subplots and characters while retaining less than a third of the original text. When the original story returned to the stage in the late 1800s, stagings began to reflect shifting political and social ideologies. Popular interest shifted to Ariel and Caliban and the nature of servitude; productions began infusing the play with Darwinist (Caliban as the “missing link”), psychoanalytic (Ariel as the superego and Caliban as the id), and postcolonial (Prospero stealing the island from and then enslaving its native inhabitants) theories. 3
The
WORLD of William Shakespeare
D
espite being history’s most produced and studied English playwright, little is known of William Shakespeare’s life. One of six siblings, Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on or about April 23, 1564. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and had three children. For the seven years after, Shakespeare fell off all record. Eventually, he arose in London and joined The Lord Chamberlain’s Men acting troupe. In 1603, when the troupe came into King James’ favor, they officially became The King’s Men. Shakespeare’s professional days are a mixture of fact and legend. In 1601, he and his business partners purchased property on the south bank of London’s Thames River, where they established The Globe Theatre. There, the acting company performed many of Shakespeare’s 37 plays. Famed for integrating elegant verse into equally compelling stories and dialogue, S h a ke s p e a r e ’s works are deep in metaphor, illusion, and character; sometimes even taking precedence over plot. He began his c a r e e r writing historical plays, bawdy 3
Did you know?
T
he original Globe Theatre burned down in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII when a prop cannon caught fire, forcing 3,000 visitors to scurry outside for safety. Miraculously, everyone survived. According to an eyewitness account by Sir Henry Wotton, the only serious recorded injury was sustained by a poor fellow “breeches set on fire, that would perhaps have broyled him, if he had not...put it out with a bottle of ale.” comedies, and the occasional tragedy. Later in life, his plays became more structurally complex, featuring his iconic Hamlet and Macbeth and the curious tragicomedies Cymbeline and The Tempest. William Shakespeare died on or about April 23, 1616, and is interred at a chapel in Stratford-upon-Avon. Most early modern playwrights did not publish their work, but 18 of Shakespeare’s plays were printed before he died. Luckily, his plays survived because friends and colleagues commemorated his life in a publication known as the First Folio. A century after his death, questions began to arise; his birthdate, deathdate, and even the spelling of his name are in question. No definitive portrait exists of the man, and no government record lists his theatric profession. Many scholars have questioned the
ability of a minimally educated man to create such challenging writing. Some theorists have long held that “Shakespeare” was a nom de plume for another playwright, nobleman, or even collection of writers. However, the vast majority of scholars believe that unofficial documentation provides proof of Shakespeare’s existence and prolific abilities. Regardless, Shakespeare’s plays have been translated to 118 languages and are now in constant production around the world,
PERFORMANCE PRACTICES
T
he Globe Theatre was a circular wooden structure constructed of three stories of galleries (seats) surrounding a courtyard. The performance space had no front curtain, but was backed by a large wall with one to three doors out of which actors entered and exited. In front of the wall stood a roofed house-like structure supported by two large pillars, designed to provide a place for actors to “hide” when not in a scene. The roof of this structure was referred to as the “Heavens” and could be used for actor entrances. The theatre itself housed up to 3,000 spectators, mainly because a great number had to stand. The seats in the galleries were reserved for people from the upper classes who primarily came to the theatre to be prominently seen. Sometimes, wealthy patrons were even allowed to sit on or above the stage itself. The lower-class spectators, who came to be known as groundlings, stood in the open courtyard and watched the play on their feet. The groundlings were often loud and rambunctious during the performances and would eat, drink, shout at the actors, and socialize during the performance. Playwrights were therefore forced to incorporate lots of action and bawdy humor in their plays in order to keep the audience’s attention.
Although there are no surviving images of the original Globe, this illustration of the Swan Theatre serves as an example of what historians believe the theater looked like.
During Shakespeare’s day, new plays were written and performed continuously. A company of actors might receive a new play, prepare it, and perform it every week. Because of this, each actor in the company had specialized in one stock character that he could perform with little rehearsal. Such characters might include romantic lovers, tragic soldiers, fools and clowns, and women characters. Because women were not allowed to perform on the stage at the time, young boys whose voices had yet to change played the female characters in the shows. Other than a few pieces of stock scenery, like forest and palace backdrops, set pieces were very minimal. There was no artificial lighting to convey time and place, so it was up to audience to imagine what the full scene would look like. Because of this, the playwright was forced to describe the setting in greater detail than would normally be heard today. 5
The Age of
I
EXPLORATION
dentifying Prospero’s island on a geographical map has been a point of debate for centuries. According to the text, it is located in the Mediterranian, somewhere between Tunis in Africa and Naples in Italy. Prospero also mentions the “still-vexed bermooths,” (I.ii.230) to Ariel, alluding to the island of Bermuda. Still another reference in the text, Miranda’s remark, “Oh brave new world/ That has such people in it” (V.i.183) leads some to believe that the play is set in the New World, or North and South America. Regardless of what Shakespeare imagined when he invented Prospero’s world, however, it is clear that he was influenced, at least to some degree, by England’s expanding global empire, a period that is now called the Age of Exploration. England was relatively late to colonize the New World. From the late 15th to mid-16th century, Portugal and Spain dominated this period of expansion, laying claim to large portions of North and South America and the West Indies. England first reached the New World in 1497, when John Cabot journeyed to North America, but it was not until the 1570s and ‘80s that Queen Elizabeth I sent explorers to stifle further Spanish colonization and discover territories in England’s name. Official English stakes in the New World began when King James I took the throne in 1603, and in 1606, the first British colony was established in Virginia. Despite England’s growing reputation as a global powerhouse, news from the New World had the British people uneasy; reports of hostil6 ity from natives, disease, starva-
tion, and Spanish resistance circulated throughout England, sparking a heated debate about the value of further colonization. Shakespeare would have read and heard about this issue, and was likely influenced by firsthand accounts of voyages to the New World, especially reports from the infamous wreck of the Sea Venture.
THE SEA VENTURE In May 1609, nine ships carrying 500 hopeful colonists for John Smith’s colony in Virginia set sail for England. While msot of the ships arrived safely in America, the ship carrying Sir Thomas Gates (meant to be the new governor of Virginia) and Admiral Sir George Somers, called the Sea Venture, became caught in a fierce sea storm on July 25 and landed on a Bermuda island. The ship was destroyed and everyone who reached Virginia assumed that the travelers on the Sea Venture had been lost at sea. Miraculously, everyone on board managed to survive. For three days and four nights, all hands—crew and passengers, noblemen and commoners— pumped, bailed, cast trunks and barrels overboard, and jettisoned much of the ship’s rigging, while sailors, lighting their way with candles, stuffed the leaking hull with whatever came to hand, even beef from the ship’s larder. Many distraught souls, resigned to a watery death, bid their friends farewell or took refuge in drink. But “it pleased God,” one survivor recalled, to push the Sea Venture within three-quarters of a mile of Bermuda, where it “fast lodged and locked” between coral boulders. All 150 passengers and crew rode the ship’s
boats to solid land. Prior to this shipwreck, Bermuda had been considered an island of devils, so the travelers were delighted and surprised to find themselves on an island that provided them with ample fresh fish, fowl, and water. They began making preparations to continue their journey to Virginia, building two new cedar boats in which they set sail, arriving in Virginia a year after they left England. News about the survivors traveled to London, and three documents, known as the Bermuda pamphlets, recorded their adventures. The most famous of the
“
For four and twenty hours the storm in a restless tumult, had blown so exceedingly, as we could not apprehend in our imaginations any possibility of greater violence, yet did we still find it, not only more terrible, but more constant, fury added to fury, and one storm urging a second more outrageous then the former; whether it so wrought upon our fears, or indeed met with new forces: Sometimes strikes in our Ship amongst women, and passengers, not used to such hurly and discomforts, made us look one upon the other with troubled hearts, and panting bosoms: our clamors drowned in the winds, and the winds in thunder.
”
A timeline of discovery 1492
Christopher Columbus “discovers” the New World for Spain
1497
John Cabot journeys to North America for England Shakespeare is born
1564 1577
Englishman Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe
1584
Walter Raleigh tries, unsuccesfully, to establish an English colony in Virginia
1603
James IV of Scotland is crowned King James I of England following Elizabeth’s death
1606
England establishes a colony called Jamestown in Virginia.
1609
Nine ships leave to take colonists to Virginia, one of which is lost at sea and lands in Bermuda
1609
Survivors of the wreck arrive in Virginia and send accounts of their travels to England
1611
The Tempest is first staged
7
A Brief
A
SYNOPSIS
s the play opens, a ship bearing the king of Naples and his retune is caught in a storm. The ship wrecks on a rocky coast, where Prospero assures his dismayed daughter that the tempest was of his creation, and none aboard were harmed. He then tells Miranda of his past life: Formerly duke of Milan, Prospero allowed his affairs of state to lapse and instead devoted his time to studying magic and the liberal arts. Eventually, his dukedom was usurped by his wicked brother, Antonio, with the help of Alonso, the King of Naples. The conspirators set Prospero and Miranda adrift in a “rotten carcass of a boat,” where they would have perished except for the good counselor Gonzalo, who provisioned their craft with food, water, and Prospero’s beloved books. During their 12 years of exile, Prospero has perfected his magical arts, gained control of the various spirits and creatures that inhabit the island, and educated Miranda.
Ariel, a native spirit of the island, has been indentured to Prospero since he rescued her from years of imprisonment by the witch Sycorax. Prospero promises that he will release her if she helps him complete his plot against the Alonso and Antonio. Prospero then calls Caliban, another native of the island, whom Prospero raised and loved until he betrayed him. Prospero brings the voyagers safely ashore and scatters them in groups about the island. Ariel leads Ferdinand to Prospero’s cell—and Miranda, who has never seen a man other than Caliban and her father, is immediately smitten. Prospero intended that the two fall in love to secure a political
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connection with Naples; to allay Miranda’s and Ferdinand’s instant passion for each other, he pretends to frown upon Ferdinand and sets him to work. On another part of the island, Alonso, his brother Sebastian, Antonio, and others wander sadly, convinced that the young Prince Ferdinand is dead. Ariel charms them with music, and all but Sebastian and Antonio are lulled to sleep. Antonio tries to convince Sebastian to kill Alonso, but Ariel wakes their intended victim just in time. On a third part of the island, Trinculo, the King’s jester, stumbles upon Caliban; he hides under the monster’s gaberdine to escape the elements until the two are discovered by Stephano, the drunken butler. Caliban, delighted by Stephano’s “moon-liquor,” begs to be his slave and worshiper, and entreats him to overthrow Prospero and rule the island. Ariel, ever watchful, warns Prospero of their plot. Meanwhile Miranda and Ferdinand exchange vows of love, and Prospero blesses their engagement. Ariel then presents the King and his court with a lavish banquet which vanishes as soon as they try to eat, rebuking them for their crimes. Miranda and Ferdinand are treated to a prenuptial masque enacted by the spirits of Iris, Ceres, and Juno, until Prospero remembers Caliban’s plot against his life. Spellbound, everyone is drawn to Prospero’s cell, where he reveals himself as the wronged duke of Milan, forgives his persecutors, and bestows his blessings upon Gonzolo and the betrothed couple. Finally, he frees Ariel, promises to return to Milan, and renounces his magical powers.
CHARACTERS
Meet the
Residents of Naples
The Servants
Brother of
Sebastian
King of Naples
Only son of
Antonio
Current Duke of Milan
Ferdinand
The Islanders
In love with
Brother of
Ally to
Court jester
Boatswain; Adrian
Antonio
Counselor to the King
Companion of
Stephano Butler
Follower of Only daughter of
Miranda
Trinculo
Antonio
Servants to
Prospero
Rightful Duke of Milan
Unseen Characters Sycorax: Caliban’s deceased mother, imprisoner of Ariel; a practicer of black magic Claribel: Alonso’s daughter, recently married to the King of Tunis in Africa
Ariel
Spirit of the island
Caliban
Native of the island
9
“
Dr. John Dee
Prospero’s ‘So
[Magic is] the true philosophical method and harmony: proceeding and ascending, from thinges visible to consider of things invisible: from thinges bodily, to conceive of thinges spirituall...”
Although Shakespeare was probably familiar with various famous magi, Dr. John Dee provides the most direct parallels to Prospero, and many scholars believe he was a model for the character to some degree. A respected advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, he was a renowned mathematician, astrologist, and cartogropher, as well as magician. He was also famous for his 4,000 books and manuscripts (compare this to the University of Cambridge library, which had only 451 books at the time). Dee fell out of favor with the royal court when James I took the throne, but unlike most of his contemporaries, he refused to renounce his connections with magic, choosing a life of poverty and exile over betraying his life’s work.
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This woodcut from a 1620 edition of Ch Faustus, depicts the titular character sum wearing common symbols of Renaiss
D
uring the Renaissance, the line b almost interchangeable; a magu jects, including all the tenants of logic and rhetoric—and the quadrivium astronomy). Magi believed that there w with scholarly investigation and practic universe and come closer to God’s divi The Renaissance saw an immense r gan consulting ancient magical manusc revered for their wisdom and collectio were many opponents to magical prac have been familiar with magician chara wouldhave identified Prospero as a the a practicer who worked toward discove of nature. With his magic cloak, staff, a worldly affairs, he fit the profile perfec
o Potent Art’
hristopher Marlowe’s famous play, Doctor mmoning the Devil from his magic circle, sance magic: a hat, cloak, and staff.
between science and magic was blurred, us was an expert on any number of subf the liberal arts (the trivium—grammar, m—arithmetic, geometry, music, and was one essential path to truth, that ce, humans could crack the code of the inity. resurgence in the occult. Scholars becripts, and the greatest of magi were on of ancient texts. Although there ctice, Early Modern audiences would acters from other popular plays. They eurgist, or practicer of White Magic, ering God’s secrets through the study and books, as well as his disinterest in ctly.
“
Opposition and Decline
“ Alchemists grow old and die in the embraces of their illusion... It is pride that has brought men to such a pitch of madness that they prefer to commune with their own spirits rather than with the spirit of nature.” — Frances Bacon
Although magicians claimed they were working within the Christian doctrine, they faced opposition on the grounds that they were committing blasphemy. Before James I (below) ascended the throne in 1603, he had already begun his active persecution against witchcraft and sorcery with a published manitfesto against witchcraft entitled Daemonology—in his eyes, there was no difference between white and black magic. Nearly every famous magician denounced his powers during James’ reign, resulting the near eradication of occultism by the mid 16th century.
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Word Search
‘All lost, quite lost’
Prospero has scattered his shipwrecked guests throughout the island, but as Act Five draws near, Ariel needs to gather all the lost Neopolitans to the center of her master’s island. Help Ariel find these missing characters by searching for their names in this puzzle; they are hidden vertically, horizontally, backwards, and diagonally. When you’ve found everyone in the name bank, the remaining letters in the first few lines will reveal another character who has wandered off and needs to be brought to Prospero.
C T R I N C U L O A D N A N I D R E F L I B A N A L O N S O U O N N W S I X K W R B W D S Z R L O U O I N O T N A L U M E D Q N A I R D A M T T O L O Z N O G Q E Z I P B O G O D J S T E P H A N O S A
Ferdinand Antonio Alonso Gonzolo 16
NAME BANK
Stephano Trinculo Boatswain Adrian
Hidden Message:
Mad-Libs
‘Speak this Speech’
Althouh The Tempest is Shakespeare’s second-shortest play, most of the characters have at least one speech, which they deliver to the audience in an aside, or to another character. Below, you can make your own Shakespearian monologue using speech of Caliban’s. To make this mad-lib activity even more fun, ask a friend or family member to provide suggestions, fill in the blanks, and let the monologue unfold. CALIBAN, Act III scene ii Be not
emotion
Sounds and
. The
adjective
Sometimes
number Will hum about mine
place
is full of noises,
airs that give delight and hurt not. twangling
noun, plural , and sometime voices body part That, if I then had waked after long , noun Will make me again; and then, in dreaming, verb The
methought would open, and show noun, plural Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked, noun
I cried to
verb
again.
Scavenger Hunt
‘Say what thou seest yond’
Look around the Root Family Stage and this Context Guide to find answers to these clues: 1. The number of umbrellas onstage: 2. The number of umbrellas in this Context Guide: 3. The year The Tempest was first performed: 4. The name of Caliban’s mother: 5. The National Players tour that Julie-Anne Elliot (Ariel) was on: 6. The number of books that the famous magus Dr. John Dee had in his library: 7. The number of lawn chairs you spot outside: 17
’sMagic Book Although we never see Prospero’s book, we know it contains many of the secrets to his magical powers. If you had a magic book, what kinds of spells and potions might you include? Use these two blank pages to draw, write, scribble, and imagine the contents of your own book...and if you think of anything really exciting, take a picture and share it on Olney Theatre Center’s Facebook page!
17 18
18 19
Still curious? Watch, listen, and read more at www.olneytempest. wordpress.com.
This context guide was compiled and designed by Maegan Clearwood, Dramaturgy Apprentice, and Jason King Jones, Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education, 2014