ACT
presents 'The Tempest' 06/04 Following on from the success of previous years, audiences will once again have the opportunity to enjoy Shakespeare under the stars this summer when act stages The Tempest, directed by Hilary Ives, in the grounds of St. Paul's Cathedral, Byron Avenue, Lefkosia. The Tempest was first performed at Court by the King's Men in 1611. It is one of the last plays written by Shakespeare and is one of only two of his plays (the other being Love's Labour Lost) whose plot is entirely original. The play does however draw on reported events of the time, most notably the accounts of a tempest off the Bermudas that separated and nearly wrecked a fleet of colonial ships sailing from Plymouth to Virginia. The play is set on an island, ruled over by Prospero, formerly Duke of Millaine who twelve years earlier had been kidnapped, together with his daughter Miranda, by his evil brother Antonio and set adrift in a small boat. They came to shore on the island whose only inhabitants were Caliban, a creature of the earth, and Ariel, an airy spirit, who both now serve Prospero. By his magic arts, Prospero has summoned up a storm in which a ship carrying Antonio and other enemies will be wrecked on his own island, so allowing him to avenge himself upon those who wronged him. Among those who escape the shipwreck and land on the island is Ferdinand, the young son of the King of Naples, who meets and falls in love with Miranda. The
shipwreck survivors are separated into several groups, each believing
that no-one else has lived to tell the tale. Their separate adventures,
invisibly orchestrated by Prospero with the help of Ariel, eventually
lead all the characters to meet again in the final act, by which time
some have repented of their misdeeds and others have reason to regret
their foolishness. Even
though The Tempest is one of Shakespeare's shortest, most simply constructed
plays, its eerie and dreamlike quality lend it a richness and complexity.
It includes the excitement of the storm and shipwreck, spectacle in the
form of a grand banquet and a wedding, music and dancing, humour provided
by Stephano and Trincalo, and of course romance. |