Download The Tempest - Actors Theatre of Louisville

WRITING FOR PUBLICATION
The Tempest
1. Personal Expressive
PLAY GUIDE
Consider the father/daughter relationship between Prospero and Miranda. Now
think of someone to whom you are close. It can be a guardian, a sibling, a friend at
school, etc. In a personal memoir, describe what your relationship means to you.
How does that person make you feel? How long have you known this person? What
are some of your favorite moments together? Guide your reader through the
memories by creating specific images of the events.
ABOUT THE
PLAY GUIDE
2. Literary
This play guide is a standards-based resource designed to enhance your
theatre experience. Its goal is twofold: to nurture the teaching and
learning of theatre arts and to encourage essential questions that lead to
enduring understandings of the play’s meaning and relevance. Inside you
will find history/contextual information, vocabulary and worksheets that
lay the groundwork of the story and build anticipation for the performance. Oral discussion and writing prompts encourage your students
to reflect upon their impressions and to analyze and relate key ideas to
their personal experiences and the world around them. These can easily be adapted to fit most writing objectives. The Bridgework connects
theatre elements with ideas for drama activities in the classroom as well
as integrated curriculum. We encourage you to adapt and extend the
material in any way to best fit the needs of your community of learners.
Please feel free to make copies of this guide, or you may download it from
our website: www.actorstheatre.org. We hope this material, combined
with our pre-show workshops, will give you the tools to make your time at
Actors Theatre a valuable learning experience.
Write a short story describing what happened an hour before the great tempest
struck the King of Naples’ ship. Focus on one character. What was this character
doing before the storm hit? Be sure to create a distinct voice describing how the
character felt aboard the ship. Challenge yourself to include a conflict and resolution.
3. Transactive
After seeing The Tempest, write a theatrical critique of the production. Pretend you
are writing for a local newspaper. Describe three elements that stood out to you
(maybe an actor’s performance, the set, the costumes, etc.). Why should or shouldn’t
someone go see this production?
Table of Contents
Need more help?
Check out our Young Critics Workshops! Have an Actors Theatre teaching artist
visit your classroom to give your students the inside scoop on how to write a
theatrical critique.
Students who have written a critique on an Actors Theatre production may
submit their work to be posted on our website! To submit online, please send
all critiques as email attachments to [email protected] with the subject
heading ‘Young Critics Contest.’ Please be sure to include your name, school, teacher, grade, and contact information.
By WIlliam Shakespeare
B I N G H A M S I G N AT U R E S H A K E S P E A R E
Actors Theatre
Education Department
Katie Blackerby Weible, Education Director
Jess Jung, Assistant Education Director
Lee Look, New Voices Coordinator
Actors Theatre of Louisville
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Box Office 502–584–1205
316 West Main Street
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Louisville, Kentucky 40202–4218
Group Sales 502–585–1210
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USA
Ganelle Holman, Education Intern
Stephanie Ong, Education Intern
Business Office 502–584–1265
ActorsTheatre.org
Page 2: Synopsis and Did You Know?
Page 3: Shakespeare’s Biography
Page 4 - 5: The Globe Theatre
Page 6: Elizabethan Playwrights
Page 7: Elizabethan Hot or Not
Page 8: Magic
Page 9: Interview
Page 10: Shakespearian Words
Page 11: Shakepeare Quotes
Page 12 - 13: Bridgework
Page 14: Discussion and Themes
Page 15: Vocabulary
Page 16: Writing for Publication
The Tempest matinee and study guide address specific
Ky Core Content:
• AH-1.3.1: Students will identify the elements of drama.
• AH-2.3.1: Students will analyze how time, place and ideas are reflected
in drama/theatre.
• AH-3.3.1: Students will explain how drama/theatre fulfills a variety of
purposes.
• AH-HS-3.1.1: Students will explain how music fulfills a variety of
purposes.
• AH-1.3.1: Students will analyze the use of technical elements, literary
elements and performance elements.
• RD-5.0.2: Students will analyze the author’s use of literary devices.
• RD-1.0.4: Students will interpret the meaning of jargon, dialect, or
specialized vocabulary.
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our play guides,
please feel free to contact Katie Blackerby Weible, Director of Education,
at (502) 584-1265 or [email protected].
The Hearst
Foundation, Inc.
Study Guide compiled by Stephanie Ong, Ganelle Holman, Charles
Haughlin, Devon LeBelle, Jess Jung and Katie Blackerby Weible
Synopsis
A great tempest shipwrecks the King of Naples, his passengers, and crew.
Unbeknownst to them, the isolated, supernatural island where they find
themselves stranded is ruled by the sorcerer Prospero, the former Duke of
Milan. Prospero ordered his sprite Ariel to summon the storm, knowing that
his usurping brother, Antonio, was among the passengers.
Miranda, Prospero’s daughter, encounters the King’s son, Ferdinand.
Assuming his father is dead, Ferdinand is full of grief, and yet, immediately,
the two fall in love. Prospero captures the young nobleman, and tests him by
conscripting him into performing physical labor.
Elsewhere, King Alonso is overwhelmed with feelings of guilt,
assuming his son was lost in the shipwreck. Ariel keeps an eye on this group,
and protects Prospero’s true friend, Gonzalo, when Alonso’s own
brother, Sebastian, joins with Antonio in a plot to overthrow the King.
Caliban, a savage creature enslaved by Prospero, leaves the sorcerer.
He believes Prospero stole the island from him. He encounters two
drunken sailors, Trinculo and Stephano, who introduce him to the magic
of liquor. Caliban swears loyalty to them in exchange for their help in
overthrowing Prospero.
What will become of Miranda and Ferdinand’s love? How will Caliban’s fate be determined? Will everyone finally obtain their rightful place in
society?
The Tempest Vocabulary
Tempest:
1) a violent wind storm, especially one with rain, hail or snow
2) A violent commotion or disturbance
Abhorred: hated
Homage: tribute
Quickens: enlivens
Allay: to calm
Hoodwink: cover from sight or
blot out
Rapier: sword
Amain: at a fast pace
Auspicious: favorable
The players:
Prospero: Sorcerer; rightful Duke of Milan
Ferdinand: Son of the King of Naples
Boatswain: Petty officer of ship
Mariners
Antonio: Prospero’s brother, the usurping
Duke of Milan
Gonzalo: An honest counselor
Sebastian: Brother to the King of Naples
Ariel: An airy spirit
Miranda: Prospero’s daughter
Caliban: A native of the island,
slave to Prospero
Alonso: King of Naples
Trinculo: Drunken sailor
Stephano: Drunken sailor
Brachen and Tangle: Spirits of the island
2
The shipwreck in The Tempest is based on a true story: the fate of the Sea
Venture. The ship left harbor June 2nd 1609. Her cargo was 150 people and
goods traveling from Plymouth to Jamestown. By July 25th she had hit a
violent storm that weakened the calking between her timbers causing massive leaks. Three days later the Sea Venture was run aground on the reefs
of Bermuda. The single longboat was sent to Virginia with Henry Raven at
the helm, but he was never heard from again. A second expedition was sent
and this time managed to harbor. Arriving at Jamestown, only 60 survivors
remained from a fleet containing almost 500 people. Jamestown was judged
as being unfit for life and many braved the ocean, once again and returned to
England.
Save: long live
Barren: infertile
Lasslorn: bereaved of his
sweetheart
Soft: just a minute
Baseless: lacking real
foundation or insubstantial
Loathness: reluctance
Solemnize: to celebrate
Lorded: given lordly power
Supplant: overthrow
Massy: heavy
Surfeited: full or satisfied
Merry: cheerful
Temporal: worldly
Mooncalf: freak
Twain: two
Mow: grimace
Vast: immense expanse
Mushrumps: mushrooms
Verily: in truth or indeed
Nuptial: marriage
Vexed: troubled
Beak: prow of a ship
Beseech you: please
Did You Know?
Jocund: merry
Sans: without
Bootless: unprofitable; useless
Chide: to scold
Credulous: gullible
Discourse: discussion
Doublet: jacket
Dost: does
Drollery: puppet show
Featly: gracefully
Fen: marsh or bog
Flout: mock
Foison: plenty
Gaberdine: cloak
Odious: hateful
Perdition: loss, damnation,
or destruction
Perfidious: treacherous
Perforce: whether you will
or no
Precursors: ones who go
before
Prerogative: privilege
Heaviness: sorrow or
distressing circumstances
Presently: at once
Hest: command
Prithee: please
Waist: the middle part of the
upper deck of a ship, between
the quarterdeck and the
forecastle
Whilere: a while ago
Wilt: will you?
Winkst: close your eyes
Varlet: rouge
Yare: ready for sea
15
William Shakespeare
Pre-Show Discussion Questions
1. If you were banished to a nearly deserted island, what five items would you bring with you?
2. Many stories center on characters with magical powers (from fairy tales to Harry Potter). Some people think young people should not read these stories because magic is not real. What do you think?
3. Before you enter the theatre, try to picture the world of The Tempest. What kind of set do you expect to see? What style and
colors? What do you think the costumes will look like? What elements of drama do you think will set the mood? How?
4. How is seeing a play different from seeing a movie? As an audience member, what types of things do you need to keep in mind when going to see a live performance?
Themes
Servitude
Nature
Illusion
Reality
Language
Freedom
Forgiveness
Post-Show Discussion Questions
1. Both Caliban and Ariel seek freedom from Prospero. In what ways are their attitudes toward servitude different? How are they the same? How can having a positive outlook make working fun? When is confronting a legitimate instructor appropriate?
2. Prospero directs Ariel to be an actor, to take on various shapes and characters in order to bewitch his audience of shipwrecked guests. In your real life, how many different roles do you inhabit each day in order to get what you want? In playing the ideal student or
loving sibling’ are you being yourself or creating an illusion?
3. All of the characters in The Tempest are literate. Decide how each of the characters makes use of their education. Why is having a vast knowledge of words useful? How can language be both constructive and destructive?
4. Shakespeare is a master of imagery, particularly when he describes the nature and vegetation present on his magical island. Paint
a picture with words describing your classroom. Use as many colors, smells, textures, and sounds as you can.
14
A Brief Biography
Me, poor man, my
library was dukedom
large enough…
William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the
town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. His
plays and poems are testaments to his wide reading—especially
to his knowledge of Virgil, Ovid, Plutarch, and the Bible—
and to his mastery of the English language. But we can only
speculate about his education. We know that the King’s New
School in Stratford-upon-Avon was considered excellent, but as
the records of the Stratford “grammar school” do not survive,
we cannot prove that William Shakespeare attended the school.
However, every indication (his father’s position as an alderman
and bailiff of Stratford, the playwright’s own knowledge of the
Latin classics), suggests that he did.
Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. The couple
had three children—their older daughter Susanna and twins
Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in
childhood. Shakespeare’s marriage is recorded, but how he supported himself and where he lived are not known. Shakespeare
published his long narrative poem Venus and Adoni in 1593,
followed by The Rape of Lucrece. It seems no coincidence that
Shakespeare wrote these narrative poems at a time when the
theaters were closed because of the plague, a contagious
epidemic disease that devastated the population of London.
When the theaters reopened late in 1594, Shakespeare
apparently resumed his double career of actor and playwright
and began his long service as an acting-company shareholder.
Records for December of 1594 show him to be a leading member
of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. It was this company of actors,
later named the King’s Men, for whom he would be a principal
actor, dramatist, and shareholder for the rest of his career. As
far as we can tell, that career spanned about twenty years. In
the 1590s, he wrote his plays on English history as well as
several comedies and at least two tragedies (including Romeo
and Juliet). In 1599, Shakespeare’s company built a theater for
themselves across the river from London, naming it the Globe.
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed at court for
Queen Elizabeth I and, after her death in 1603, for King James.
Some were presented at the Inns of Court (the residences of
London’s legal societies), and some were doubtless performed in
other towns and at universities when the King’s Men went on
tour. Otherwise, his plays from 1599 to 1608 were, so far as we
know, performed only at The Globe until its destruction in 1613
To recollect that the year of his birth marked the
deaths of both Michelangelo and Calvin is to set him in the
middle of the two great formative movements in the arts and
religion, the Renaissance and the Reformation. The year of his
own death also bore witness to the first lectures of physiology,
marking a movement of new achievements for scientific method.
Sometime between 1610 and 1613, Shakespeare is thought to
have retired from the stage and returned home to Stratford,
where he died in 1616. Shakespeare is buried inside the chancel
of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. Four centuries after he wrote
them, the works of William Shakespeare continue to entertain
and intrigue audiences around the world. Shakespeare’s genius
permanently shaped the English language, while his knowledge
of the human mind and heart speaks to us across the years. In
the words of his friend and rival playwright Ben Jonson, “He was
not of an age, but for all time.”
TERMS:
Lord Chamberlain’s Men- one of the leading theatre companies
in London, founded during the reign of Queen Elizabeth in 1594
The Globe- the name of the theatre in which most all of Shakespeare’s plays were performed. The Globe was open to everyone,
despite his or her financial status. (See page 4)
3
The Globe Theatre
Before there was The Globe, there was The Theatre. The Theatre
was an Elizabethan theatre built on the Thames River in 1576
by James Burbage. The Theatre stood on property belonging to a
man named Giles Allen. James Burbage paid Allen for the right
to use his land, but for only 21 years. In April 1597, the lease ran
out and failure to pay meant Allen would be unable to keep the
playhouse. Not wanting to give up the family business, James’ two
sons Cuthbert and Richard, along with a team of hired workmen,
including William Shakespeare, built the “second” Theatre, The
Globe in December 1599. The men disassembled The Theatre and
reused the wood to build The Globe. The Globe’s new home was on
the opposite side of the Thames River.
The success of the Globe Theatre was due to the team
of men who vigorously worked to keep the theatre alive. Among
them were William Kemp, Augustine Philips, Thomas Pope, John
Hemings, William Shakespeare and Cuthbert and Richard
Burbage. These seven each owned a share of The Globe and
became known as Lord Chamberlain’s Men, after Lord
Chamberlain, who was a powerful nobleman. In 1603 after the
death of Elizabeth I, the Chamberlain’s Men became known as the
King’s Men after James I.
The Globe’s design was considered bold for its time. The
construction of the theatre was a rectangular acting space
consisting of a platform raised about five feet from the ground. The
stage thrust into a circular audience space. The audience filled
three tiers on either side of the stage as well as a yard directly in
4
front of the stage to watch the performances; these people were
called groundlings. The theatre had no roof. Instead, the
central area was open to the sky. Only the stage was covered by a
thatched roof held up by pillars. When the theatre was full, there
were two to three thousand playgoers above and below the stage,
and even in private boxes (or “lord’s rooms”) which were located
near the back of the platform.
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed at the
Globe. Among them were: Julius Caesar, Othello, King Lear,
Hamlet, As You Like It and even The Tempest. On June 29, 1613
the Globe was destroyed by a massive fire. During a performance
of King Henry VIII, a cannon was used to announce the arrival of
the king, who was played by Richard Burbage. When the cannon
was fired, sparks flew through the air and landed on the thatched
roof above the stage. At first no one noticed the smoke because
they were too engaged in Burbage’s performance. Then all of a
sudden, spectators noticed smoke rising from the roofing. “Fire!”
rang out throughout the theatre. Everyone managed to escape
unhurt as the first Globe burned to the ground.
The second Globe Theatre was built in less than a year
on the same foundation as the first, with a few modifications. The
theatre was built with more space to store costumes and was built
with a fireproof, tiled roof rather than a thatched one. The
outside of the theatre displayed a carving of Atlas holding up a
globe and underneath it, in Latin a line from Shakespeare’s play
As You Like It: “All the world’s a stage,” the Globe’s motto.
CROSS CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS
Writing
• ORQ - Prospero undergoes the most complex change in the play.
He is deeply resentful of those who have mistreated him in Milan.
Ariel leads him to a new understanding of resolving conflict in relationship by choosing virtue over vengeance. She tells him that if
she were human, her “affections would become tender”-- she would
feel mercy toward them. At this point, Prospero delivers one of the
most powerful speeches of the play:
And mine shall.
Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,
One of their kind, that relish all as sharply
Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?
Though with their high wrongs I am stuck to the
quick,
Yet with my nobler reason ‘gainst my fury
Do I take part. The rarer action is
In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent,
The sole drift of my purpose doth extend
Not a frown further. Go, release them, Ariel.
My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,
And they shall be themselves. (Act V, sc. i)
Think of a time when someone wronged you. What was the result
of the conflict? Were you able to forgive the person? How was it
resolved? What is the difference between “justice” and
“revenge”?
• ORQ - In what many consider (rightly or wrongly) to be Shakespeare’s “Farewell to the Stage”, Prospero speaks of giving up his
art.
Be cheerful, sir.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. (Act IV, sc. i)
What is the importance of our dreams? How are dreams and
reality in conflict? Explore the theme of illusion vs. reality. Can
you draw parallels between this speech and Shakespeare’s feeling
about his own art?
Language Arts
• MODERN TEMPEST – Translate the following speech into contemporary language. Define any words that you don’t know and
incorporate slang, colloquialisms and your own regional jargon.
Think about Prospero’s treatment of Caliban and how Caliban has
changed since his time with Prospero and Miranda.
Caliban: I must eat my dinner.
This island’s mine by Sycorax, my mother,
Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first,
Thou strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in’t, and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night; and then I lov’d thee
And show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile,
Curs’d be that I did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king; and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o’ th’island. (Act I, sc. ii)
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE – Shakespeare’s work is teeming with
descriptive words and rhetorical devices, such as imagery,
metaphor, simile, personification and alliteration.To better understand his language, it is helpful to know when his characters are
speaking figuratively.
Imagery: The use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience.* Caliban’s
description of the island environment appeals to our senses:
The isle is full of noises,
Sounds, and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me, that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
Metaphor - a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally
denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another
to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.* For example,
Miranda compares the body to a house:
There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple.
If the ill spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with’t.
Simile - a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is
often introduced by like or as.* Ariel compares Ferdinand’s hair to
reeds:
The King’s son, Ferdinand,
With hair up-staring (then like reeds, not hair),
Was the first man that leapt; cried, “Hell is empty,
And all the devils are here!”
Personification - attribution of personal qualities.* Ariel describes
the air:
The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
Alliteration - the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in
two or more neighboring words or syllables.* The repetition of “f”
in Ariel’s speechillustrates:
Full fadom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made.
Search the text of the play for as many examples of figurative
language as you can find. Then try your hand at writing figuratively in contemporary language.(*definitions from www.m-w.com/
dictionary)
Social Studies
Many critics believe that The Tempest is Shakespeare’s way of
exploring the idea of colonialism. Prospero and Miranda are
colonists living in a new, strange world. How do they influence the
natives of this island? Research the English exploration of “the
New World” that was happening in 1611. What are the parallels
between the play and history?
Science
Research different types of storms typical to a coastal area, including tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, typhoons and tropical cyclones. Discuss the causes and effects, and differences between the
types of storms. What major weather catastrophes have occurred
throughout history?
Geography
The Tempest takes place on an isolated island somewhere between
Italy and the north sea of Africa. Written in 1611 and taking place
roughly at that same time, little was known geographically about
the area. Research this area today. What likely area could be the
island in the play?
13
BRIDGEWORK
Building Connections Between Stage and Classroom
The following exercises combine creative drama, theatre concepts and core content to connect the theatre experience with drama activities in your classroom. By exploring drama as a mode of learning, students strengthen skills for creative problem solving, imagination and critical thinking.
Core Content Connection - The activities are designed using the Elements of Drama: Literary, Technical and Performance. (Core Content 4.1)
AT YOUR DESK Activities
What Am I Saying?
Choose a line of dialogue for each character in the play. Translate
the line into your own words. What is the character saying? What
does the line tell you about the character?
Create a Sound Design
The Tempest is one of Shakespeare’s sound-heavy plays. The
technical element of sound helps describe a character, create mood
and places us in a specific time and place. Assume the role of sound
designer for your own production of The Tempest. Think of the
themes in the play. What music would you choose to put in your
production that reflects the main ideas and characters? What
sound effects would you choose to communicate a storm, island environment, magic? Compile a list of both sound effects and music
that you would use.
Write a Letter
Apologizing to another person is often a difficult task. Write an
apology letter in the voice of one of the characters in the play to
another character.
Create a Collage
Think of the themes and issues present in The Tempest. Create
a collage of images from magazines and/or your own artwork that
reflects the ideas of the play. Share with the class.
Draw a Poster
Create a poster for our production of the play. Include as much
detail of shape, line and color that you can remember.
Mark Your Feet
A Shakespearean “foot” consists of one stressed and one unstressed
syllable, or an iamb. Mark the feet in the following passage. Do
you notice a break in the pattern? Which words did Shakespeare
want his actors to stress? How might those words be useful to an
actor creating a character?
Prospero:
By my so potent art. But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff.
ON YOUR FEET Activities
JUMP, STOP, CLAP
Most contemporary plays use stage directions to tell the actors
when to perform an action onstage. For example, “She walks to the
ringing telephone and answers it.” Shakespeare hardly used stage
directions at all! Instead, he used punctuation and descriptive
language to inform the actor’s movement. In the following passage,
Ariel explains to Prospero how she followed his directions, flaming
and springing to sink the ship.
Try to use your body to bring Shakespeare’s words to life. Walk
when you are speaking. Stop moving at each period. Jump at the
semicolons and colons. Clap at each comma.
Ariel:
To every article.
I boarded the king’s ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed amazement: sometime I’ld divide,
12
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly.
Then meet and join.
Tableaux Show
Recreate the story of The Tempest through tableaux (still images).
Plot out major points of the story, creating a tableau with your bodies to depict each “scene” in the play. There should be no sound.
Rehearse moving from one tableau to the next in order. You might
even choose music to play underneath. Then present to the class
your performance of The Tempest through these frozen pictures.
Playwriting
•
•
Write a soliloquy for one of the characters in the play.
Write a scene for two characters that is NOT in the play, but one that might have taken place in the story. For example:
A. A prologue set in Milan between Prospero and Antonio before Prospero’s fall;
B. An epilogue between Miranda and Ferdinand, Trinculo and Stephano, or Alonso and Sebastian.
Rehearse your soliloquy or scene (with a partner) as reader’s theatre or with blocking (stage movement). Present to the class.
Brave New World
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world
That has such people in’t!
In 1642, a civil war broke out in England between King
Charles I and Parliament. Parliament was in charge of passing
laws and raising new taxes for the king. London was mainly
controlled by Parliament whose leaders were strict Puritans.
Oliver Cromwell was one of the leaders in Parliament and a
Puritan who despised theatre. In 1642, Parliament passed a
law closing the playhouses and banning all performances. Some
players performed illegally until they were stopped by the law,
fined and even whipped. Others joined the King’s army. In
1644, after the deaths of William Shakespeare and Richard
Burbage, the Globe Theatre was demolished to make way for
public housing. King Charles lost the war and was beheaded in
1649. Not until 1660, when Charles II, the late king’s son was
crowned, did the theatre make a comeback. He loved theatre
and orded the theatres to be built back up.
Many years later in the 1970s, an American actor by
the name of Sam Wanamaker launched a campaign to build
a replica of the Globe Theatre on its original site. In 1996 the
brand new Globe Theatre opened on the Bankside just a few
yards from its original foundation. The Globe Theatre is still
open today; people from all over the world visit London to watch
the plays of the 16th and 17th centuries.
FACTS ABOUT THE GLOBE THEATRE
g
Divide into small groups (4-6 per group). Imagine that you and
your classmates have been shipwrecked on a primitive island.
There is no government, institution, commerce, etc. As a group,
establish a plan for survival. Who will be in charge? How will you
make decisions? Each member will become a character. In role,
improvise a town meeting in which you will decide how your town
will be organized, how responsibility will be delegated and other
important matters to be debated. After playing for 10-15 minutes,
reflect and compare your experience with other groups.
g
Theatrical Magic
g
With a story full of magic, special effects, monsters, music and
dancing, The Tempest is a perfect choice to show all the technical
elements of theatre. In small groups, explore in detail what kinds
of technical effects you saw and heard (lights, sound, costumes, set)
and how each of these helped to tell the story. Then, choose a piece
of classical literature that might lend itself to a technically
“theatrical” production. Divide your group into the four technical
teams and brainstorm possibilities for how you would use tech
elements in your production. Present your concept to the class,
complete with sketches and sound examples.
g
g
Stage vs. Film
There have been a few film adaptations of The Tempest. For
example: Forbidden Planet (1956), a sci-fi version; a 1985 filmed
stage version starring Ephram Zimbalist, Jr.; and a 1982
adaptation starring Molly Ringwald and Susan Sarandon as
Miranda and Aletha. Research two or more versions and watch
them. Then divide into small groups. Each group will document
similarities and differences between film versions as well as between stage and screen. Describe the different approaches taken
in each piece. Which are successful and why? Prepare an oral
presentation for your class. If possible, use film clips to support
your presentation. You might wish to expand your research to
include other Shakespearean titles that have been adapted for film.
g
In order for people from the other side of the river to see a play at the Globe, they had to take boats which were navigated by people called watermen.
Those who could not afford the boat fare had to walk across the Thames River using the London Bridge.
A flag was flown to announce there would be a play that afternoon.
All theatres were closed down in 1593, 1603 and 1608 due to the black plague.
The word “theatre” comes from the Latin word “theatrum”, meaning “viewing place”
Men were the only actors during the
Renaissance. Women were not allowed
on public stages. Younger boys who
hadn’t reached puberty played women’s
roles because their voices were still high pitched.
5
ELIZABETHAN PLAYWRIGHTS
Did you know there were many playwrights of Shakespeare’s time
whose contributions to literature made an impact on society?
Check out the other Elizabethan greats: Christopher Marlowe,
Thomas Kyd, George Peele and Ben Jonson.
Christopher “Kit”Marlowe (1564-1593)
Christopher “Kit” Marlowe is considered by most scholars
to be the most accomplished and important English playwright
before Shakespeare. Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and
playwright. He was born in Canterbury, England and attended The
King’s School at Canterbury. He also attended Corpus Christi College at Cambridge on a scholarship. During this time, it is
possible that Marlowe secretly worked for the government as a
secret spy. Due to his ongoing record of absences, the college was
hesitant to award him his degree. In July 1587, Marlowe received
his M.A. from Corpus Christi. In 1925 a scholar by the name of J.
Leslie Hotson discovered an entry located in the register of Queen
Elizabeth’s Privy Council that addresses Marlowe’s whereabouts
during his college years. The entry describes Marlowe’s journey to
Rheims in France. Modern scholars have agreed that Marlowe was
indeed a part of the Queen’s secret service and that he had been
regularly spying on Catholics as well as others who posed a threat
to her and her court.
Marlowe’s first dramatic piece of work is probably
Dido, Queen of Carthage, possibly written at Cambridge with
Thomas Nashe. Marlowe’s most famous work is The Tragical
History of Doctor Faustus. It is about a man who sells his soul
to the Devil. It is considered complex and one of his more mature
plays. Other works by Marlowe are The Jew of Malta, Edward the
Second,Tamburlaine the Great and The Massacre at Paris. The
circumstances around Marlowe’s death are a mystery. It is said
that Marlowe died during a bar brawl from a dagger wound right
above the eye which penetrated to his brain, killing him instantly,
but to this day scholars have found no clear evidence that this was
simply a bar brawl, and many speculate the murder is related to his
career as a spy.
Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)
Thomas Kyd’s influence as “the father of the revenge
tragedy” is based solely on the one play he wrote that had popular
success, Spanish Tragedy. The play contains several murders, the
ghost and spirit of Revenge belonging to the Spanish officer Andrea
who was murdered by a captive named Balthazar. Other themes
include suicide, jealousy, and guilt. Little is known about Kyd’s
life, although we know he was born November 6, 1558 and received
a well rounded education at Merchant Taylors’ School. There he
studied Latin, Greek, art, drama and music. There is no evidence,
however, that Kyd went on to attend any type of university. Other
works by Kyd include his translations of Torquato Tasso’s Padre di
Famiglia, published as The Householder’s Philosophy; and Robert
Garnier’s Cornelia. After The Spanish Tragedy was written, Kyd
faded out of the public eye, later becoming a translator of Italian
and giving up playwriting all together. Thomas Kyd died in 1594
in London.
George Peele (1558-1596)
6
George Peele was best known for writing in a variety of
styles. He tried his hand at tragedies, civic pageants, history and
pastoral romances. Peele gained much attention with his first play,
The Arraignment of Paris, so much so that the Queen’s court
arranged a private performance. Peele attended Christ’s Church
complex from the age of nine to fourteen. There he studied religious instruction, Greek and Latin. Peele was encouraged to further
his studies at Oxford and in 1571 he pursued studies in theology
and moral philosophy. Peele did not join the clergy, but instead
went into theatre and as a playwright. Some of his plays include
The Old Wives’ Tale; King Edward the First, The Battle of
Alcazar; England’s Parnassus, and The Love of King David and
Fair Bethsabe.
Although an abundance of Peele’s plays and poems
survive today, in his own time he was unable to support
himself. In the early 1550’s, Peele went into debt. Making matters worse, he endured some sort of chronic illness that diminished
his strength. In 1595, Peele begged for aid from a nobleman
named Lord Burleigh, but was declined. On November 9, 1596,
George Peele died in London.
Ben Jonson (1572-1637)
Modern scholars believe Ben Jonson follows Shakespeare
as the next important English dramatist. Jonson was born in
London in 1572, and like many other playwrights of his time, he
was also a poet and actor. By the summer of 1597, Jonson had
a fixed engagement in the Admiral’s Men, and performed under
Philip Henslowe’s management at The Rose Theatre. Jonson
was thought of as an unsuccessful actor and was evidently more
valuable to the company as a writer. Some of his earlier works
included Palladis Tamia, The Isle of Dogs (co-written with Thomas
Nashe). Shortly after, he wrote Every Man in his Humour which
was an instant success. The following year he wrote Every Man
Out of His Humour. The tragedy Catiline and his comedies Volpone, Epicene, or the Silent Woman, The Alchemist,
Bartholomew Fair and The Devil is an Ass. Along with plays,
Jonson was also wrote masques (a form of festive entertainment
which flourished in sixteenth and early seventeenth century
Europe) for the royal court. Among his two dozen masques he
wrote are The Satyr and The Masque of Blackness.
Jonson wrote for a few years after his decline in the
theatre. Due to a stroke, his library burning down and a long list
of failed plays, Jonson was unable to write another
successful play. At his death in 1637, Jonson was working on a
new play entitled The Sad Shepherd.
QUOTATIONS
Did you ever wonder where the expressions—dead as a doornail, a laughing stock, a tower of strength, or a blinking idiot—came
from? They are all expressions found in Shakespeare’s plays, and now they are in our language. Have you ever heard any of these
expressions? Check off the ones you recognize. How many of these do you think you could fit into a short story? Challenge yourself!
Write your story in the space below.
Shakespeare Coined…
□ for goodness sake
□ bag and baggage
□ as white as driven snow
□ green-eyed monster
□ hold a candle to
□ one fell swoop
□ stood on ceremony
□ elbow room
□ too much of a good thing
□ give the devil his due
□ it smells to heaven
□ not a mouse stirring
□ sharper than a serpent’s tooth
□ merry as the day is long
□ budge an inch
□ laugh yourself into stitches
□ too much of a good thing
□ sleep not one wink
□ foul play
□ vanish into thin air
□ your own flesh and blood
□ truth will out
□ make a virtue of necessity
□ seen better days
□ in a pickle
□ without rhyme or reason
□ as luck would have it
□ but me no buts
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11
MAGIC
AN INTERVIEW
WITH...
JULIE
FELISE
DUBINER
Hell is empty and all the devils
are here…
The Tempest takes a spectacular storm scene, magic manipulation
of people and of things, a masque of goddesses, spirits in the form
of a pack of hounds, a half-domesticated monster, and characters
who can go about invisible to other characters and drops them on a
magical, deserted island. In this play, the magic of the island comes
from Prospero’s art, and the nature of that art must be clearly
understood. It is white magic, not black, in that the magician uses
only some secret powers of nature, which he has learned after
laborious study; he does not call up evil spirits, as the black
magician does, nor does he make compacts with the devil and jeopardize his immortal soul.
For people of Shakespeare’s time, magic and superstition
were critical issues lying very much at the center of their lives.
Europeans relied on spells and charms handed down from their
parents to heal illness, to ward off misfortune, and to protect from
harmful witchcraft. They used traditional rites to ensure the
well- being of crops and domestic animals, and they paid attention
to any number of signs that could serve as omens of the future.
In cases of particular need, they might turn to a healer, cunning
folk or professional fortunetellers who have special skills or knowledge of the magical arts.
Court magicians had been common since the Middle Ages,
and provided Queen Elizabeth with astrological services, as well as
with mathematical and navigational expertise. There were other
major divine influences including music, as particular songs or
melodies were believed to be (rather literally) in tune with certain
divine radiations and would alter the body subtly to be influenced
by these forces. There is more music in The Tempest than any of
Shakespeare’s other plays, including the comedies with their festive
endings. And music is Prospero’s final request before retirement.
“But this rough magic I here abjure, and, when I have required
some heavenly music, which even now I do, to work mine end upon
their senses that this airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff.” Natural
substances were particularly attuned to certain forces as well, and
could be used to attract or amplify these. Gold was in natural
harmony with the beneficial energies of the sun, for example.
Prospero’s “midnight mushrooms,” and “green sour ringlets” could
be considered references to the earthly nature of his “so potent art.”
Some Renaissance thinkers studied Kabbalah, a Jewish system of
mysticism that had developed mainly in medieval Spain. Since,
in the Book of Genesis God created the heavens and the earth by
speaking, Kabbalah became centered on words and letters. Through
the careful study of words, one could ascend toward the
divine. Whether or not Shakespeare studied Kabbalah,
The Tempest would imply that he certainly believed the ability to
manipulate language was a divine human quality. The magic of
language is a running theme in the play, and the main characters
are benefactors of learning words. Prospero taught Miranda while
growing up on the island. “Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee
more profit than other princesses can that have more time for
10
vainer hours and tutors not so careful?” Miranda then teaches
Caliban the art of language. “I pitied thee, took pains to make
thee speak, taught thee each hour one thing or other: when thou
didst not, savage, know thine own meaning but wouldst gabble like
a thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposes with words that made
them known.” But Shakespeare knew that language, in the hands
of the wrong magician, is a dangerous art, and comments on such
with the character of Caliban. “You taught me language; and my
profit on’t is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you for
learning me your language!” Prospero’s last act, ending his career
as a magician, is to “drown [his] book.”
The play begins and ends with Prospero’s magic. From
the time the shipwrecked men set foot on dry land they never know
whether to trust their eyes or not, or indeed, whether to trust their
ears, for Ariel can deceive both the senses of sight and hearing. At
the simplest level this is, of course, mere magic; a magician is
someone who can make things appear and disappear. On the comic
side we see Stephano thinking that the four legs of Trinculo and
Caliban are the limbs of a four-legged monster. It has often been
noticed that the island looks different to the different people who
find themselves on it. Gonzalo expects that on the island an
innocent existence could be led without sweat or endeavor, but
apparently much wood must be carried to provide fuel. Another
curiosity is that there is a horsepond but no horses.
Can a play be about magic, and at the same time, be
magical in its effects? Acting is creating illusions; according to
Shakespeare, the actor is “shadow.” In one of the greatest passages
in The Tempest we are told that what we take for concrete
physical reality will turn out to be an illusion too. “Our revels now
are ended. These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and
melted into air, into thin air: and, like the baseless fabric of this
vision…shall dissolve…We are such stuff as dreams are made on,
and our little life is rounded with a sleep.”
Julie Felise Dubiner is the Resident Dramaturg
for Actors Theatre of Louisville. Devon LaBelle
recently talked with her about Dramaturgy and
her role in The Tempest.
Devon: What does a Dramaturg do, and what is a Dramaturg?
Julie: Being a Dramaturg is a job that covers a lot of different
ones. At Actors Theater of Louisville we have three Dramaturgs
and two literary interns. We are responsible with keeping the
scripts up-to-date, helping Marc plan the season and making
sure that the director and actors have the research they need.
We help directors conceptually and ask them what they want to
do and why. Beyond that, there are little things and then there
are big things. We work with the Public Relations Department
to write blurbs and articles about the plays we produce. We also
assist the Development Department with public functions and
speaking engagements.
Devon: Explain the process you went through in order to
prepare a text for your audience.
Julie: The first thing I do is focus the stories that the text is
telling me. I ask what the story means today, what has caused it
to stand the test of time. Asking these questions of a director as
gracious and present as Marc Masterson, Artistic Director of
Actors and Director of The Tempest, is great because it allows
him to think about what draws him to the play.
The thing with Shakespeare is that some of his work is
really long; I think Hamlet might be 5 to 6 hours all told, if you
use every word. Directors and audiences don’t think about shows
the same way they once did, and so we have to make cuts to
adjust to a modern way of thinking, to a modern concept of time.
On top of that, all of our cuts need to make sure that the story
Marc wants to tell is clear and that it comes to the forefront of
our production.
This summer I cut the play. I think I took out 15% of
the scenes. I sent it back to Marc, who put about half of those
cuts back in, maybe more, and made some more cuts of his own.
Next we worked with the production team. Marc
wanted to figure out what the world was for Tempest. We talked
with the designers: lights, sound, costumes, scene and props. We
had to let them know where the cuts were so that they knew how
the piece would flow.
Charles, the literary intern, and I went through the
script and looked at punctuation. It might not sound like a big
deal but we use punctuation much differently now then they did
in Shakespeare’s time. Sometimes if you pay special attention to
the way that commas are used now, you can see that. We compared the script with several published versions including the 1st
Folio version.
Devon: What is your favorite type of Dramaturgy?
Julie: Working on Tempest is the type of Dramaturgy I like best.
It is so exciting to do Shakespeare; we get to do this every two
years because of the Bingham family endowment. For me, this is
why I do what I do.
7
Shakespearean Words
Elizabethan
Barbs from the Bard! Combine one word from each of the columns below. Add “thou” to the beginning
and create the perfect insults and compliments. (Example: “Thou rank rump-fed hedge-pig!”)
Category
INSULTS
Column A
Column B
Column C
peevish
grizzled
greasy
jaded
waggish
purpled
rank
saucy
vacant
yeasty
clay-brained
dog-hearted
evil-eyed
lily-livered
mad-bred
onion-eyed
paper-faced
rump-fed
shag-eared
white-livered
canker blossom
clot pole
hedge-pig
dogfish
egg-shell
nut-hook
pantaloon
rabbit-sucker
snipe
younker
rare
sweet
fruitful
brave
sugared
flowering
precious
gallant
delicate
celestial
8
Column B
honey-tongued
well-wishing
fair-faced
best-tempered
tender-hearted
tiger-booted
smooth-faced
thunder-darting
sweet-suggesting
young-eyed
Type of Performance
Purpose of Drama
Performance Spaces
Theaters
Playwrights
Compliments
Column A
Hot or Not?
Hot
Early- Modern European
Ancient Greek
Inexpensive entertainment
for all
Religious Festival to
Dionysus
Courtyards, bustling
pavilions, and interior spaces
Breezy hillside
amphitheaters
the Theatre, the Rose
The Globe, and the Swan
Dodoni, Epidauros,
Delphi and Argos
Shakespeare and
Ben Johnson
Aeschylus, Sophocles
and Euripides
1 penny for standing room
6 pennies for royal seating
Free, with a mandatory day
off for slaves
Young boys in lead face
paint
Old men in masks
Column C
smilet
toast
cukoo-bud
nose-herb
wafer-cake
pigeon-egg
welsh cheese
song
true-penny
valentine
Cost
Women
Performers
Not
Play troupes sponsored by
royalty
Star actors assigned by the
master of ceremonies;
The assigned star find men
for 10-15 chorus members
9