Tempest Presentation 052507

William Shakespeare’s: 

Hagerstown Community College’s Center for Continuing Education The Folger Shakespeare Library and Theatre Lisa A. Sullivan, Instructor June 16, 2007 William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 1 – Introduction: 

Lisa A. Sullivan, M.A. Instructor Researcher and Webmaster: www.bardophilia.com bardophile@bardophilia.com Proprietor and Expert Consultant: Independent Writers Agency www.iwritersagency.com Objective To prepare you for today’s performance of The Tempest with an en route lecture about Shakespeare’s writing genius and an historical perspective of The Tempest and Shakespearean theater. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 1 – Introduction

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 2 – Overview and Today’s Focus: 

About The Tempest Old enemies and new lovers find themselves tempest-tossed and cast ashore in a ‘brave new world’ they never imagined. In Shakespeare’s final play, the master brings all of his art to bear to weave a compelling story that leads to the most remarkable act of all—forgiveness. The Folger Shakespeare Library and Theater 2007 Performance of The Tempest Directed by Aaron Posner William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 2 – Overview and Today’s Focus

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 3 – Old Enemies: 

Old Enemies Revenge tragedies Robert Greene’s Greene’s Groats-Worth of Wit …there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well able to bombast our a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a countrey. Prospero’s plan and the tempest Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda Three things The Tempest teaches us about revenge through the characters Caliban, Ariel, and Prospero Forgiveness and unity William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 3 – Old Enemies

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 4 – New Lovers: 

New Lovers The courtly love tradition The sonnet tradition The Shakespearean (or English) Sonnet Sonnet 116 – Let me not to the marriage of true minds Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand’ring barque, Whose worth’s unknown although his height be taken. Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 4 – New Lovers

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 5 – New Lovers: 

New Lovers Ferdinand’s Soliloquy, Act III There be some sports are painful, and their labor Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness Are nobly undergone and most poor matters Point to rich ends. This my mean task Would be as heavy to me as odious, but The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead And makes my labors pleasures: O, she is Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed, And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove Some thousands of these logs and pile them up, Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness Had never like executor. I forget: But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labors, Most busy lest, when I do it. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 5 – New Lovers

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 6 – New Lovers: 

New Lovers The Marriage Song, Act IV Juno: Honor, riches, marriage-blessing, Long continuance, and increasing, Hourly joys be still upon you! Juno sings her blessings upon you. Ceres: Earth’s increase, foison plenty, Barns and garners never empty, Vines and clustering bunches growing, Plants with goodly burthen bowing; Spring come to you at the farthest In the very end of harvest! Scarcity and want shall shun you; Ceres’ blessing so is on you. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 6 – New Lovers Vision of unity and disunity Prospero’s Speech, Act IV You do look, my son, in a moved sort, As if you were dismay’d: 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-capp’d 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.

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 7 – The Final Act: 

The Final Act Two conclusions about love we can draw from The Tempest Unity (comedy) versus disunity (tragedy) Epilogue Prospero: Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint: now, ‘tis true, I must be here confined by you, Or sent to Naples. Let me know, Since I have my dukedom got And pardon’d the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands: Gentle breath of yours my sail Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant, And my ending is despair, Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so that it assaults Mercy itself and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardon’d be, Let your indulgence set me free. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 7 – The Final Act

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 8 – The Final Act: 

The Final Act A new genre William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 8 – The Final Act

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 9 – Shakespeare’s Theater: 

Shakespeare’s Theater “Of course Shakespeare wrote the plays, and we should daily fall on our knees to thank him for them – and yet there is something to the idea that he is not their only author. Every editor, every director and actor, and every reader to some degree shapes them, too, for when we edit, direct, act, or read, we inevitably become Shakespeare’s collaborator and re-create the plays.” -- Sylvan Barnet Shakespeare’s Theaters: The Globe and Blackfriar’s Theatre The Globe Experience Hamlet: O, old friend! why, thy face is valanc’d since I saw thee last’ coms’t thou to beard me in Denmark? Why, my young lady and mistress! by’r lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Pray God your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not crack’d within the ring. Masters, you are all welcome. (2.2.421-29 Riverside) William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 9 – Shakespeare’s Theater

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 10 – Shakespeare’s Theater: 

Shakespeare’s Theater Suspend Your Disbelief! Chorus: O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all, The flat unraised spirits that have dared On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object: can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France? or may we cram Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright the air at Agincourt? O, pardon! since a crooked figure may Attest in little place a million; And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, On your imaginary forces work. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 10 – Shakespeare’s Theater Suppose within the girdle of these walls Are now confined two mighty monarchies, Whose high upreared and abutting fronts The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder: Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts; Into a thousand parts divide on man, And make imaginary puissance; Think when we talk of horses, that you see them Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth; For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times, Turning the accomplishment of many years Into an hour-glass: for the which supply, Admit me Chorus to this history; Who prologue-like your humble patience pray, Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play. (Prologue, Henry V)

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 11 – Shakespearean Theater: 

Shakespearean Theater Friar John: Going to find a bare-foot brother out One of our order, to associate me, Here in this city visiting the sick, And finding him, the searchers of the town, Suspecting that we both were in a house Where the infectious pestilence did reign, Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth; So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd. Friar Laurence: Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo? Friar John: I could not send it, here it is again, Nor get a messenger to bring it thee, So fearful were they of infection. (Romeo and Juliet, 5.2.5-16) William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 11 – Shakespearean Theater

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 12 – Activities: 

Artistic Choices Costuming Gestures Height Lateral Distance Kinesthetic Expression Blocking William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 12 – Activities Language Poetry vs. Prose Silence EME or ME The Text Emphasis Activities – You Be the Director! Costuming 1. How would you dress your characters – modern dress or Elizabethan – and why? 2. Directors often use colors and textures to reveal aspects of characters’ personalities. Knowing what you know of Miranda, what color(s)/texture(s) would best suit her? Prospero? Caliban? 3. If Miranda were at a Halloween party, what would she choose to wear? Ferdinand? Prospero? Ariel? Caliban?

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 13 – Activities: 

Activities – You Be the Director! Gestures 1. Height is an important visual aspect. What does it symbolize when a character is placed higher on the stage, is standing, is looking upward? What does it symbolize when a character is placed on the audience’s level, is kneeling, is looking downward? Which characters do you think are “higher” characters in The Tempest? Which characters do you think are “lower” characters? 2. Lateral distance (horizontal positioning) is also visually important in a theater production. Which characters in The Tempest would be physically (and perhaps emotionally?) closer to each other? Which characters would be physically apart? 3. Kinesthetic expression is when an actor uses body language and movement to reveal character. What would be Caliban’s kinesthetic expression toward Prospero? Ariel to Prospero? Ferdinand to Miranda? Miranda to Ferdinand? Language 1. Would you choose to use Shakespeare’s English or modern English? William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 13 – Activities

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 13 – Activities: 

Activities – You Be the Director! Language 1. Would you choose to use Shakespeare’s English or modern English? Activities – Anticipation! 1. Which character are you most interested in getting to know today? 2. Do you think director Aaron Posner will choose to put on a modern version of the play or one in the Elizabethan style? 3. What do you think you will learn today at the Folger? 4. In general, what do you think you will to see, hear, and experience at today’s performance? William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 13 – Activities

William Shakespeare’s The TempestPage 14 – Trivia: 

Trivia 1. Prospero’s name implies one who is prosperous. How is it ironic? 2. What does Miranda’s name imply? 3. What is Ariel’s personal history? 4. What is Caliban’s personal history? 5. Who enters invisible? 6. Who exits pursued by a bear? 7. In addition to stage performances, for what else was The Globe used? “It is a truism that every age invents its own Shakespeare. […] We cannot claim that the Shakespeare on our stage is the true Shakespeare, but in our stage productions we find a Shakespeare that speaks to us, a Shakespeare that our ancestors doubtless did not know but one that seems to us to be the true Shakespeare – at least for a while.” William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Page 14 – Trivia