Research Paper On The Tempest

Barry Cavin’s portrayal William Shakespeare’s The Tempest presented by the Bower School Music & The Arts was incredibly intimate and focused on acting. The play’s production felt as if produced and performed by aspiring youth with limited resources which contrasts perfectly with the play that many critics see as the master playwright expression of his farewell to the stage. The Tempest is believed to be written by famous William Shakespeare in 1610-11. The play preserves the writing of Shakespeare, and almost nothing major is changed from the plot. It is set on an unnamed remote island where the sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan, Prospero, landed after being deposed and set adrift with his 3-year-old Miranda. Prospero plots to use illusion
and manipulation to restore his daughter Miranda to the throne. His plot revolves around conjuring up a storm through the eponymous tempest, Ariel, he saved from imprisonment (by a deceased Algerian sorceress) to lure his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit King Alonso of Naples to the island. This adaption of the play is clearly concerned with reflecting on the nature of the deep love of the craft that aspiring theatre artists experience as they begin to practice their craft. Every aspect of the play makes choices to use simple but incredibly impactful material that focuses on the acting.
The theatre space is incredibly reminiscent of a basement. The play takes place in a small end stage theatre perhaps the size of a regular sized classroom. The audience had enough rows of seating to be counted on one hand, and the actors where less than ten feet from the first row. The lighting is primarily done by dangling lamps that hang from cords attached to the ceiling. Besides these lamps, only lighting is from a few purple or red lamps that rest on the ceiling and one left of the stage. These lights are seldom used accept to create dramatic lighting. The style of the lamps was turn of the century which fit with the anachronicity felt throughout the props. These lamps are individually turned on by switches on them, and the lamps dangle just above the actor’s heads in separate rows throughout the stage. These dangling lamps where used by the actors who turned them on as they moved about the stage, and as they leaved they would quickly go around and turn them off. The effect of this style of lighting is that light radiates in all directions next to each character which pierces the complete darkness that would otherwise dominate. Complex lighting from spotlights is avoided, keeping to the low-cost theme. This lighting style is most like film noir with looming sense of darkness, and deep striking shadows. The set design is equally cost effective but expressive. The background and floor consists solely of wooden facades of flat dark colored wood. With space in-between each rectangular module to allow characters to enter from backstage. The flat background has a dark purple color that seams black when the lamps are only used, and glow when the mystic lighting is used. The flat backgrounds also mean that striking shadows are preserved from the characters as they use the hanging lights. The only actual set piece is a wooden hull of a capsized ship.
The piece is beautiful, but also not distracting either since it is made of wood just like the background. It is also abstract since the ship would proportionately be much larger lending to the fantastical nature of the play, and lending to the limited budget ascetic it as often in low budget productions. Since in low budget productions resources are often spent on a few pieces to give the illusion of higher production values. Since the entire set is made from wood the set can be representative of multiple backgrounds. The organic quality of the wood lends to the natural feel of the island, while the constructed aspect of the wood can lend to ships and other mend made scenes as well. The only special pieces are also reminiscent of choices a child production might make: plush toys representing wild animals, wooden swords, music carried out by actors using modern instruments, people covered in black physically waving dresses to represent wind, casting shadows through sheets to represent sailing ships etc. The costumes are also inexpensive but powerful. Every human character wears leather sandals (both chronistically effective and inexpensive), the humans wear 50s era blazers or dresses (abstractly expressing rank through increasing the formality of the clothing and reminding me of kids rummaging through parents old clothing), and the clothing of Ariel is sequined, oceanic, surreal, and child’s
dress-esque. The acting was superb from all contributor.
The acting possessed a subtlety that far surpassed what I expected for the age of the actors. For example, Prospero’s age was clearly demonstrated. Hanny acted with ample hand movements and a scratchy nurturing voice that elders tend to use more. She also kept her back tight as if possessing stiff joints. Caliban, the deformed servant, was incredibly acted in a way that clearly expressed that the actor was passionately enjoying his role. Daniel physically walked with his torso inches from the ground and winced in pain. His loud bellowing voice, his stuffed shirt, and the loud crash of the things he drops clearly demonstrates his strength as well. This portrayal of The Tempest elevates the Shakespeare’s commentary of theatre as illusion expressed through the lens of the soon to retire Shakespeare, by adding expression through the lends of the theatrically young and hungry. In a world of huge budgeted plays with exact representations and extravagant sets, being able to see minimalist expertly crafted expression is a much-appreciated sight for sore eyes. I would liken this play to Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino. I give the performance the maximum of five
stars.