The Tempest Study Guide.indd

Transcription

06l07 Youth Education
Creative Teachers...Intelligent Students...Real Learning
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Tempest Dress Rehearsal
Teacher Resource Guide
About UMS
One of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country,
UMS serves diverse audiences through multidisciplinary performing arts programs in three distinct but interrelated areas: presentation, creation, and education.
With a program steeped in music, dance, theater, and education, UMS hosts approximately 80 performances and 150 free
educational activities each season. UMS also commissions
new work, sponsors artist residencies, and organizes collaborative projects with local, national as well as many international
partners.
While proudly affiliated with the University of Michigan and
housed on the Ann Arbor campus, UMS is a separate not-forprofit organization that supports itself from ticket sales, grants,
contributions, and endowment income.
UMS Education and
Audience Development
Department
UMS’s Education and Audience Development Department
seeks to deepen the relationship between audiences and art,
as well as to increase the impact that the performing arts can
have on schools and community. The program seeks to create
and present the highest quality arts education experience to a
broad spectrum of community constituencies, proceeding in
the spirit of partnership and collaboration.
The department coordinates dozens of events with over 100
partners that reach more than 50,000 people
annually. It oversees a dynamic, comprehensive program
encompassing workshops, in-school visits, master classes, lectures, youth and family programming, teacher
professional development workshops, and “meet the artist”
opportunities, cultivating new audiences while engaging existing ones.
For advance notice of Youth Education events, join the UMS
Teachers email list by emailing [email protected] or visit
www.ums.org/education.
Cover Photo: Patrick Stewart (Prospero) and Julian Bleach
(Ariel) in the RSC production of The Tempest. Photo by Manuel
Harlan.
This Teacher Resource Guide is a product of the University
Musical Society’s Youth Education Program. Researched
and written by Bree Juarez. Edited by Ben Johnson and Bree
Juarez. All photos are courtesy of the artist unless otherwise
noted.
06/07
UMS Youth Education
The Tempest Dress Rehearsal
Wednesday, November 1, 2:00pm
Power Center, Ann Arbor
TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE
Education and Community
Engagement Programs supported by
Official Airline of the
2006 RSC residency
Additional support
provided by
The Power Foundation
and Michigan
Council for Arts and
Cultural Affairs.
Funded in part by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association Charitable Foundation Fund
of the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan.
Table of Contents
About the Performance
*
*
6
7
Coming to the Show
The Performance at a Glance
*
10
13
About the RSC
Behind the Scenes at the RSC
The Tempest
Short on Time?
We’ve starred the
most important
pages.
Only Have
15 Minutes?
Try pages 7, 10,
and 27
*
17
19
27
Shakespeare
*
31
33
Biography of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare Family Tree
Lesson Plans
*
35
36
38
39
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
55
Resources
*
4 | www.ums.org/education
Cast of Characters
Scene Synopsis
Themes in Julius Caesar
57
58
59
60
63
Curriculum Connections
Meeting Michigan Standards
Assessing Prior Knowledge
Lesson 1: It’s Shakespeare!
Handout1: The Survey Says...
Handout 2: What Do You Know???
Handout 3: Shakespeare in School
Lesson 2: Getting Into Character
Handout 4: A Monologue
Create Your Own UMS
Theater Vocabulary
Theater Vocabulary Word-O
UMS Permission Slip
Internet Resources
Recommended Reading
Community and National Resources
How to Contact UMS
Patrick Stewart (Prospero) in The Tempest (Photo by Manuel Harlan)
About the
Performance
Coming to the Show (For Students)
We want you to enjoy your time in the theater, so here are some tips to make your Youth
Performance experience successful and fun! Please review this page prior to attending the
performance.
What should I do during the show?
Everyone is expected to be a good audience member. This keeps the show fun for everyone.
Good audience members...
• Are good listeners
• Keep their hands and feet to themselves
• Do not talk or whisper during the performance
• Laugh only at the parts that are funny
• Do not eat gum, candy, food or drink in the theater
• Stay in their seats during the performance
• Do not disturb the people sitting nearby or other schools in attendance
Who will meet us when we arrive?
After you exit the bus, UMS Education staff and greeters will be outside to meet you. They
might have special directions for you, so be listening and follow their directions. They will
take you to the theater door where ushers will meet your group. The greeters know that your
group is coming, so there’s no need for you to have tickets.
Who will show us where to sit?
The ushers will walk your group to its seats. Please take the first seat available. (When
everybody’s seated, your teacher will decide if you can rearrange yourselves.) If you need to
make a trip to the restroom before the show starts, ask your teacher.
How will I know that the show is starting?
You will know the show is starting because the lights in the auditorium will get dim, and a
member of the UMS Education staff will come out on stage to introduce the performance.
What if I get lost?
Please ask an usher or a UMS staff member for help. You will recognize these adults because
they have name tag stickers or a name tag hanging around their neck.
How do I show that I liked what I saw and heard?
The audience shows appreciation during a performance by clapping. In a musical performance, the musicians and dancers are often greeted with applause when they first appear. It
is traditional to applaud at the end of each musical selection and sometimes after impressive
solos. At the end of the show, the performers will bow and be rewarded with your applause.
If you really enjoyed the show, give the performers a standing ovation by standing up and
clapping during the bows. For this particular show, it will be most appropriate to applaud at
the beginning and the ending.
What do I do after the show ends?
Please stay in your seats after the performance ends, even if there are just a few of you in your
group. Someone from UMS will come onstage and announce the names of all the schools.
When you hear your school’s name called, follow your teachers out of the auditorium, out of
the theater and back to your buses.
How can I let the performers know what I thought?
We want to know what you thought of your experience at a UMS Youth Performance. After
the performance, we hope that you will be able to discuss what you saw with your class. Tell
us about your experiences in a letter or drawing. Please send your opinions, letters or artwork
to: UMS Youth Education Program, 881 N. University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011.
What is the Royal Shakespeare Company?
The RSC is one of the world’s best-known theater companies. Every year the
Company plays to over 500, 000 theatre-goers at performances staged across the
world. The RSC plays throughout the year at its home in Stratford-upon-Avon, the
town where Shakespeare was born and died. The Company also performs regularly
in London and at an annual RSC residency in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In addition, the
Company tours throughout the UK and internationally, including residencies with
universities and performing centers in the US.
The Company’s mission is to keep in touch with Shakespeare as a contemporary,
but also to keep modern audiences, artists and writers in touch with Shakespeare.
The Company’s repertoire also includes other Renaissance dramatists, and the work
of international and contemporary writers.
The aim is to give as many people as possible, from all walks of life, a richer and
fuller understanding of theater. Through events, education, and outreach programs
the RSC continually strives to engage people with the experience of live performance.
The RSC today is still at its heart an ensemble company. Everyone in the Company,
from directors, actors, and writers to production, administrative, technical, and
workshop staff, all collaborate in the RSC’s distinctive and unmistakable approach
to theater.
A brief plot of The Tempest
The play begins with a tempestuous storm at sea. Twelve years earlier Prospero, the
Duke of Milan, was usurped by his brother Antonio with the support of Alonso,
King of Naples, and the king’s brother Sebastian. But for the help of Alonso’s advisor, Gonzalo, he would have been killed with his only daughter Miranda. Gonzalo
furnished them with the means to survive, including Prospero’s precious books,
and cast them to sea. They eventually landed on a remote island, once ruled by the
witch Sycorax, but now inhabited by her only son Caliban.
“We are such stuff
As dreams are
made on and our
little life
Is rounded with a
sleep...”
- Prospero, Act IV,
scene 1, lines 156157 in The Tempest
Upon his arrival, Prospero released Ariel, a powerful spirit who had been enslaved,
then imprisoned, by Sycorax before she died. Ariel promised to remain in Prospero’s
service for the next 13 years. Prospero adopted Caliban as a student and taught
him with Miranda, until Caliban attempted to rape her.
Prospero has seen that a passing ship contains his brother and the co-conspirators.
Prospero commands Ariel to raise a storm to shipwreck the usurpers, so he can
execute his revenge.
On the island the stranded travellers are separated, with the invisible Ariel directing their wanderings. The King of Naples searches for his son Ferdinand, fearing he
has drowned. The king’s brother plots to kill him and seize the crown. The drunken
butler, Stephano, and the chef Trinculo, encounter Caliban and are persuaded to
kill Prospero so they can rule the island.
Ferdinand meets Miranda and the two fall instantly in love. Prospero sets heavy
tasks to test Ferdinand and when he is satisfied that he has met all challenges,
Prospero presents the young couple with a betrothal ceremony celebrating, and
testing, their new unity.
As Prospero’s plan draws to its climax, he vows that upon its completion he will
abandon his magic arts. Ariel brings the king and his followers to Prospero and he
confronts his enemies.
“Shakespeare’s
work is
the fullest
Finally, Prospero grants Ariel his freedom and prepares to leave the island for
Milan and his Dukedom.
Timeline for The Tempest
expression of the
The Tempest is the last complete play solely attributed to Shakespeare. The Revels
Accounts state that it was presented at Court by Shakespeare’s Company in 1611
and it was printed in the First Folio in 1623.
dilemmas that
Sources for The Tempest
we as humans
face...he’s
incapable of not
The plot draws on folk tale and the romantic comedies of the day and there are
also linguistic echoes of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but the story and characters of
The Tempest are Shakespeare’s own. He was influenced by the tide of exploration occurring at the time, in particular accounts of the shipwreck of a colonising
vessel, the Sea Adventurer, off the coast of Bermuda in 1609. The Tempest is
Shakespeare’s only play apart from The Comedy of Errors to observe the classical
convention of setting the action in a single location in a single day.
seeing two sides
of a situation so
there’s always
drama and
there’s always
conflict.”
-Michael Boyd,
RSC Artistic
Director
Who was William Shakespeare?
William Shakespeare is considered one of the world’s finest playwrights of all
time. Writing in England during the late 1500s during Queen Elizabeth I’s reign,
he quickly established himself as a poet, actor, and playwright. He mastered
the comic and tragic dramatic forms and introduced over 2,000 new vocabulary
words into the English language. Shakespeare is read by nearly every American
student and is perhaps best known for Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, Hamlet, and A
Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Chris Jarman (Adrian) and John Hopkins (Sebastian) rehearse a scene for The Tempest
(Photo by Ellie Kurttz)
Royal
Shakespeare
Company
About the RSC
A Brief History of the RSC
The Early Years
In 1875, Charles Edward Flower, a Stratford brewer, launched an international
campaign to build a theatre in the town of Shakespeare’s birth. His donation of
the now famous two-acre site began a family tradition of generosity to the theatre
which continues today.
The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was a Victorian Gothic building. It opened in
1879 with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing. From 1907 star visitors
began to appear in Stratford such as Ellen Terry and H. Beerbohm Tree and under
the direction of F.R. Benson, a month-long summer season was added in 1910.
Europe and the USA helped to broaden the company’s outlook.
The Royal Charter
Almost 50 years of excellence were recognised in 1925 by the granting of a Royal
Charter, but only a year later the theatre was destroyed by fire.
The festival director, William Bridges-Adams, continued productions in a local
cinema, and a worldwide campaign was launched to build a new theatre. In 1932
the new Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, designed by Elisabeth Scott, was opened
by The Prince of Wales on 23rd April, Shakespeare’s birthday.
1932 - 1961
Over the next thirty years the Company continued to build its reputation, working with established Shakespearean actors, as well as nurturing new talent. From
1945 the company’s work began to win critical acclaim.
Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft, Vivien Leigh
and Laurence Olivier acted alongside new faces such as Richard Burton. It was in
the late 1950s that invitations to perform in Russia, Europe and the USA helped to
broaden the company’s outlook.
The 1960s
In 1960, Peter Hall formed the modern Royal Shakespeare Company and in 1961,
the Memorial Theatre was renamed the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The repertoire
widened to take in modern work and classics other than Shakespeare.
The sixties brought a new generation of actors and directors to the company David Warner, Judi Dench, Ian Richardson, Janet Suzman, Clifford Williams, John
Barton, Trevor Nunn and Terry Hands - and landmark productions like Peter Hall’s
Wars of the Roses.
Over the next thirty years the company continued to expand under a succession
of visionary and creative Artistic Directors: Peter Hall (1960 - 1968), Trevor Nunn
(1968 -1978), Trevor Nunn jointly with Terry Hands (1978 -1987), Terry Hands
(1987 - 1991) and Adrian Noble (1991 - 2003). Michael Boyd is the current RSC
artistic director.
The Swan Theatre
The 1986 season in Stratford saw the opening of another theatre. Built inside part
of the shell of the Memorial Theatre that survived the 1926 fire, the Swan is a
Title
unique, modern theatre space
based on the design of the playhouses of Elizabethan England.
The Swan Theatre continues to
be a favourite space for many
actors and audiences owing to
its intimate staging and the close
proximity of the audience to the
action.
The RSC today
In July 2002 Michael Boyd was
announced as the new Artistic
Director for the RSC replacing
Adrian Noble from March 2003
and signalling a new chapter in
the Company’s history.
Michael became an Associate Director of the Company in
A sketch of the Swan Theatre
1996 and has directed numerous productions for the RSC. In
2000/2001 he won an Olivier Award for Best Director for the productions Henry VI,
parts I, II, III and Richard III. The productions formed part of the RSC’s This England
- The Histories cycle.
Despite the growth from Festival theatre to international status, the values of the
RSC today have changed very little since 1905: the RSC is still formed around an
ensemble of actors and a core of associate actors who continue to give a distinctive and unmissable approach to theatre. The RSC also continues to be a superb
training ground for the artistic and technical talents of British and international
theatre.
Who is part of the Royal Shakespeare Company?
The RSC is an ensemble company. Everyone in the company, from directors, actors
and writers to production, administrative, technical and workshop staff all collaborate in the RSC’s distinctive and unmistakable approach to theatre. The RSC
employs over 700 people who either work directly on producing and running
the productions or within roles that directly support the work that takes place on
stage.
Her Majesty The Queen is Patron of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His Royal
Highness The Prince of Wales is the RSC’s President and chairs the Company’s
Annual General Meeting.
Where is the RSC located?
As well as performing in a number of UK towns and cities each year on tour,
Stratford-upon-Avon, London and Newcastle are key centres for the Royal
Shakespeare Company.
Title
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where William Shakespeare
was born and died, attracts audiences and artists from around
the world and is the home of the RSC.
The RSC has three theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon, the 1412seater Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the 432-seater Swan Theatre and The Courtyard Theatre.
London
London is a vital part of the RSC’s national presence. In May
2002, the RSC left the Barbican Theatre and now performs in
the UK capital throughout the year in a
range of different theatres (including the Barbican Theatre
but the RSC is no longer the resident theatre company at the
venue) .
Newcastle
A map of England
Since 1977, Newcastle has provided a third home for the RSC.
Each year the company proudly transfers productions to the city’s theatres for a
season of work, along with extensive educational and community projects.
Where does the RSC tour?
Although based in Stratford-upon-Avon, the RSC regularly performs in London,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne and other UK venues, as well as touring overseas, and
residencies at universities and performing centres in the United States.
UK touring
Much of the RSC’s UK touring commitment is met by the RSC’s unique mobile
auditorium, which brings classical theatre to communities with little access to
professional companies. The tour travels to school halls, leisure centres and other
community venues throughout the UK, accompanied by an extensive education
and outreach program.
The first ‘mobile’ tour began in 1978 with productions of Twelfth Night and
Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, starring Ian McKellen. Since then the Company has
toured over 30 different productions in the “mobile theatre”. The tour has visited
over 120 different British towns and cities in the past 25 years.
Overseas touring
As well as residencies in Michigan and Washington, the Company has increasingly
been invited to perform overseas. Over the past few years, audiences in China,
Japan, and Kuala Lumpur have enjoyed RSC touring performances.
The 2006 Festival of Shakespeare’s Classics marks the RSC’s third visit to Ann Arbor.
The company’s first residency was in 2001 and featured the tetrology of Henry VI,
parts I, ii, iii and Richard III. The second residency was in 2003 and featured Salman
Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, along withShakespeare’s Coriolanus and Merry
Wives of Windsor. 2006 will feature Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and The
Tempest.
Behind the Scenes at the RSC
Before the curtain goes up on the first night, months of preparation will have
already taken place behind the scenes.
The Royal Shakespeare Company has ”in-house” the huge range of specialist skills
required to bring a play to life. Each department works together over a period of
months making sure the production is ready for the opening night.
Choosing the play
The Artistic Director chooses the productions the company performs. More than
one production may open at any one time and as soon as one production opens
the next is already well underway with future work being carefully discussed and
planned with the Planning Department.
Casting
The casting team works closely with the director to ensure that the right actors
get the right part. Auditions are held and a shortlist is drawn up. This can be complicated as, at the RSC, actors are often cast in more than one production (cross
casting), directed by different directors so it is important that they are able to
realise more than one director’s vision.
Planning the production
The Director and Designer work on the style and period in which the production
is set. Once the decisions have been made, the model box
is produced and presented to the Production Manager and
the various workshop and wardrobe departments.
The model box is a three dimensional miniature version of
the set with all scenery and props scaled down on a scale
of 1:25. The model acts as a tool to help everybody create
the vision of the director and designer on stage. It is a main
point of reference when building the set and the props.
The set
The Construction Manager and drawing office provide
detailed drawings of how the set should be built. Each set
may be required to play in many different venues and must
be capable of being taken off stage quickly to change over to a different production the following day.
An example of a
set model from
The Tempest
Every item of scenery has detailed construction drawings produced on Computer
Aided Design (CAD). The plans are then handed to the scenic workshop and
Paintshop and props team.
Props
A prop may be a hand prop, furniture or small items, which may be man-handled.
These can range from huge casts for tall statues to a bunch of flowers or a letter.
Attention to detail is crucial and reference books are constantly in use to ensure
accuracy to a particular period.
Title
The Costumes
In collaboration with the Costume Department the Costume Supervisor and
Designer decide on the best way to create the costumes. This may include the
shoes, hats, armour, underwear, jewellery, buying the fabrics, booking the costume
makers and setting up the costume fittings.
To create a particular period feel or a design with a particular colour scheme, neutral fabrics often arrive direct from the factory to be treated by the Dyeing Department. Fifty percent of costumes are broken down in some way to look worn or
to show general wear and tear. Common tools of the trade for the department
include a cheese grater, sandpaper, Stanley knives, a blow-torch, emulsion-based
paints and fabric paints.
At the beginning of rehearsals all the actor’s measurements are taken. The Men’s
and Ladies’ Costume Departments work closely with the designer to discover the
best way to interpret a costume. The Armoury and Boot Department make, recycle
or adapt boots and shoes for a production. The Hats and Millinery team create a
particular look using felts and straw, wire, buckram, plastics and veils.
Wigs and make-up
Hairdressing, wigs and make-up complete the final look. An actor often uses their
own hair in a production, which creates difficulties, as the look required will differ
in each production they appear in during the season. The Wigs’ team may have to
cut, curl, dye, or add extensions or hairpieces to the same actor.
Unless specialist make-up is required most actors
apply their own make-up. The team creates blood
effects for daggers, blood bags or smearing using glucose, sugar and fruit colouring. Black treacle (a dark
concetrate of sugarcane juice) is used to darken the
blood. The team may even be required to make prosthetic parts of the body such as the nose in Cyrano de
Bergerac.
Rehearsals
Actors from
Julius Caesar in
rehearsal
While the set, props and costumes are being made,
the actors are busy working away in the rehearsal
room. The RSC spends six weeks rehearsing a production with the Director, Voice Coach, Fight Directors,
Musical Directors and Stage Management team.
Aspects of the set are often built in the rehearsal room so actors can get a feel for
the set before they reach the stage, which is only four days before the first public
performance.
Stage management
Rehearsals are constantly monitored as decisions in the rehearsal room directly
affect the production process. The stage management team records these developments and the rehearsal notes are passed on to the relevant workshop. The Stage
Manager keeps a detailed script, marking entrances, exits, scene changes, and
actor’s positions.
Stage Department
The Stage Department deals with the nuts and bolts of the scenery and takes the
set from the workshops on the Sunday prior to the first technical rehearsals. There
is then two days to build the stage before the crucial technical rehearsal period.
The stage-hands move scenery during the production and have to solve any problems with the set if they arise while a play is being performed.
Lighting and sound
The specialists in the Lighting and Sound Departments work closely with the director and designer to build up an atmosphere with the lighting and sound for a production.
Fit-up, technical rehearsals and dress rehearsals
This is when the work from all the various teams comes together on stage for the
first time - Rigging, focussing, sound balance, set construction all preparing the
theatre for the production.
The actors arrive on the stage four days before the first public performance and
the detailed technical rehearsals begin. The first dress rehearsal often takes place
on the afternoon of the first public performance. This is the very first time the
actors, crew and technical team have run through the show with everything in
place. Adrenaline runs high in anticipation of the first performance in front of an
audience...
Support work
There are a number of non-production departments for example, Marketing, Education, Press & Public Affairs and Development, who are closely involved in the production process and directly support the work that takes place on stage.
Maria Gale (Miranda) and Patrick Stewart (Prospero) in The Tempest (Photo by Manuel Harlan)
The Tempest
Cast of Characters
Title
The Characters
The characters in Julius Caesar are richly portrayed. Please read the following
descriptions to understand each character more thouroughly.
Prospero
The main character of this play, Prospero used to be the legitimate Duke of Milan.
Unfortunately his treacherous brother Antonio stole his title and banished Prospero to an island with his daughter Miranda. A great lover of the arts and in particular books, Prospero has harnessed the powers of magic whilst in exile.
Miranda
Prospero’s daughter. Attractive and young at the tender age of fifteen years,
Miranda has lived with her father in exile for twelve years. Aside from her father,
she has seen few men in her life, and quickly enchants the shipwrecked Ferdinand.
Ariel
An airy spirit, Ariel serves his master Prospero well in his many tasks of magic on
Prospero’s island. Once enslaved by a witch, Ariel wants his freedom now from
Prospero. At the conclusion of this play Ariel is made free.
Caliban
A giant misformed beast, Shakespeare describes Caliban as “a savage and
deformed slave.” Hating his master Prospero, Caliban works for him out of fear of
Prospero’s magic.
Iris, Ceres, Juno, Nymphs and Reapers
Spirits that appear by Prospero’s will.
Characters who arrive at Prospero’s Island by shipwreck:
Alonso
The King of Naples. When Prospero’s brother Antonio, usurped (took) Prospero’s
dukedom, it was Alonso who recognized Prospero’s brother, sealing Prospero’s
fate of living in exile.
Ferdinand
The much-loved son of the King of Naples. Shipwrecked, but alive, Ferdinand falls
instantly in live with Miranda, when he first sees her on Prospero’s island.
Sebastian
The brother of Alonso, the King of Naples. He plots to kill his king and take his
title with the scheming Antonio.
Antonio
The brother of Prospero, he took Prospero’s title from him when Prospero trusted
him to manage his affairs. Having replaced his brother, he now encourages Sebastian to do the same to his brother, Alonso.
Gonzalo
An honest old counsellor. When Prospero was to have starved to death when
exiled by boat, it was Gonzalo who provided food, clothing and books to comfort
Prospero and the then three year old Miranda.
Stephano
A drunken butler, he attempts to kill Prospero and take the island for his own.
Trinculo and Caliban whom he fools into believing he is a God help him.
Trinculo
A jester, who tries to kill Prospero.
Master of a ship, Boatswains, Mariners
Sailors who fight Prospero’s storm but are ultimately shipwrecked on his island.
John Light (Caliban) in rehearsal for The Tempest (Photo by Ellie Kurttz)
Source: http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/tempest/characters/
characters.htm
Scene Synopsis
Date
The Tempest is the last complete play solely attributed to Shakespeare. The Revels
Accounts state that it was presented at Court by Shakespeare’s Company in 1611
and it was printed in the First Folio in 1623.
Sources
The plot draws on folk tale and the romantic comedies of the day and there are
also linguistic echoes of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but the story and characters of
The Tempest are Shakespeare’s own. He was influenced by the tide of exploration
occurring at the time, in particular accounts of the shipwreck of a colonising vessel,
the Sea Adventurer, off the coast of Bermuda in 1609. The Tempest is Shakespeare’s only play apart from The Comedy of Errors to observe the classical convention of setting the action in a single location in a single day.
ACT ONE
Act I, Scene i
A violent storm rages around a small ship at sea. The master of the ship calls for
his boatswain to rouse the mariners to action and prevent the ship from being run
aground by the tempest. Chaos ensues. Some mariners enter, followed by a group
of nobles comprised of Alonso, King of Naples, Sebastian, his brother, Antonio,
Gonzalo, and others. We do not learn these men’s names in this scene, nor do
we learn (as we finally do in Act II, scene i) that they have just come from Tunis, in
Africa, where Alonso’s daughter, Claribel, has been married to the prince. As the
Boatswain and his crew take in the topsail and the topmast, Alonso and his party
are merely underfoot, and the Boatswain tells them to get below-decks. Gonzalo
reminds the Boatswain that one of the passengers is of some importance, but the
Boatswain is unmoved. He will do what he has to in order to save the ship, regardless of who is aboard.
The lords go belowdecks, and then, adding to the chaos of the scene, three of
them—Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo—enter again only four lines later. Sebastian and Antonio curse the Boatswain in his labors, masking their fear with profanity. Some mariners enter wet and crying, and only at this point does the audience
learn the identity of the passengers on-board. Gonzalo orders the mariners to pray
for the king and the prince. There is a strange noise—perhaps the sound of thunder, splitting wood, or roaring water—and the cry of mariners. Antonio, Sebastian,
and Gonzalo, preparing to sink to a watery grave, go in search of the king.
Act I, Scene ii
Prospero and Miranda stand on the shore of the island, having just witnessed the
shipwreck. Miranda entreats her father to see that no one on-board comes to any
harm. Prospero assures her that no one was harmed and tells her that it’s time she
learned who she is and where she comes from. Miranda seems curious, noting that
Prospero has often started to tell her about herself but always stopped. However,
once Prospero begins telling his tale, he asks her three times if she is listening
to him. He tells her that he was once Duke of Milan and famous for his great
intelligence.
Prospero explains that he gradually grew uninterested in politics, however, and
turned his attention more and more to his studies, neglecting his duties as duke.
This gave his brother Antonio an opportunity to act on his ambition. Working
in concert with the King of Naples, Antonio usurped Prospero of his dukedom.
Antonio arranged for the King of Naples to pay him an annual tribute and do him
homage as duke. Later, the King of Naples helped Antonio raise an army to march
on Milan, driving Prospero out. Prospero tells how he and Miranda escaped from
death at the hands of the army in a barely-seaworthy boat prepared for them by
his loyal subjects. Gonzalo, an honest Neapolitan, provided them with food and
clothing, as well as books from Prospero’s library.
Having brought Miranda up to date on how she arrived at their current home,
Prospero explains that sheer good luck has brought his former enemies to the
island. Miranda suddenly grows very sleepy, perhaps because Prospero charms
her with his magic. When she is asleep, Prospero calls forth his spirit, Ariel. In his
conversation with Ariel, we learn that Prospero and the spirit were responsible
for the storm of Act I, scene i. Flying about the ship, Ariel acted as the wind, the
thunder, and the lightning. When everyone except the crew had abandoned the
ship, Ariel made sure, as Prospero had requested, that all were brought safely to
shore but dispersed around the island. Ariel reports that the king’s son is alone. He
also tells Prospero that the mariners and Boatswain have been charmed to sleep in
the ship, which has been brought safely to harbor. The rest of the fleet that was
with the ship, believing it to have been destroyed by the storm, has headed safely
back to Naples.
Prospero thanks Ariel for his service, and Ariel takes this moment to remind
Prospero of his promise to take one year off of his agreed time of servitude if Ariel
performs his services without complaint. Prospero does not take well to being
reminded of his promises, and he chastises Ariel for his impudence. He reminds
Ariel of where he came from and how Prospero rescued him. Ariel had been a
servant of Sycorax, a witch banished from Algiers (Algeria) and sent to the island
long ago. Ariel was too delicate a spirit to perform her horrible commands, so
she imprisoned him in a “cloven pine” (I.ii.279). She did not free him before she
died, and he might have remained imprisoned forever had not Prospero arrived
and rescued him. Reminding Ariel of this, Prospero threatens to imprison him
for twelve years if does not stop complaining. Ariel promises to be more polite.
Prospero then gives him a new command: he must go make himself like a nymph
of the sea and be invisible to all but Prospero. Ariel goes to do so, and Prospero,
turning to Miranda’s sleeping form, calls upon his daughter to awaken. She
opens her eyes and, not realizing that she has been enchanted, says that the
“strangeness” of Prospero’s story caused her to fall asleep.
After Miranda is fully awake, Prospero suggests that they converse with their servant Caliban, the son of Sycorax. Caliban appears at Prospero’s call and begins
cursing. Prospero promises to punish him by giving him cramps at night, and
Caliban responds by chiding Prospero for imprisoning him on the island that once
belonged to him alone. He reminds Prospero that he showed him around when
he first arrived. Prospero accuses Caliban of being ungrateful for all that he has
taught and given him. He calls him a “lying slave” and reminds him of the effort
and promises to free him soon.
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ACT TWO
Act II, Scene i
While Ferdinand is falling in love with Miranda, Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and other shipwrecked lords search for him on another part of the island.
Alonso is quite despondent and unreceptive to the good-natured Gonzalo’s
attempts to cheer him up. Gonzalo meets resistance from Antonio and Sebastian
as well. These two childishly mock Gonzalo’s suggestion that the island is a good
place to be and that they are all lucky to have survived. Alonso finally brings the
repartee to a halt when he bursts out at Gonzalo and openly expresses regret at
having married away his daughter in Tunis. Francisco, a minor lord, pipes up at this
point that he saw Ferdinand swimming valiantly after the wreck, but this does not
comfort Alonso. Sebastian and Antonio continue to provide little help. Sebastian
tells his brother that he is indeed to blame for Ferdinand’s death—if he had not
married his daughter to an African (rather than a European), none of this would
have happened.
Gonzalo tells the lords that they are only making the situation worse and attempts
to change the subject, discussing what he might do if he were the lord of the
island. Antonio and Sebastian mock his utopian vision. Ariel then enters, playing “solemn music” (II.i.182, stage direction), and gradually all but Sebastian and
Antonio fall asleep. Seeing the vulnerability of his sleeping companions, Antonio tries to persuade Sebastian to kill his brother. He rationalizes this scheme by
explaining that Claribel, who is now Queen of Tunis, is too far from Naples to
inherit the kingdom should her father die, and as a result, Sebastian would be the
heir to the throne. Sebastian begins to warm to the idea, especially after Antonio
tells him that usurping Prospero’s dukedom was the best move he ever made.
Sebastian wonders aloud whether he will be afflicted by conscience, but Antonio dismisses this out of hand. Sebastian is at last convinced, and the two men
draw their swords. Sebastian, however, seems to have second thoughts at the last
moment and stops. While he and Antonio confer, Ariel enters with music, singing in Gonzalo’s ear that a conspiracy is under way and that he should “Awake,
awake!” (II.i.301). Gonzalo wakes and shouts “Preserve the King!” His exclamation wakes everyone else (II.i.303). Sebastian quickly concocts a story about hearing a loud noise that caused him and Antonio to draw their swords. Gonzalo is
obviously suspicious but does not challenge the lords. The group continues its
search for Ferdinand.
Act II, Scene ii
Caliban enters with a load of wood, and thunder sounds in the background. Caliban curses and describes the torments that Prospero’s spirits subject him to: they
pinch, bite, and prick him, especially when he curses. As he is thinking of these
spirits, Caliban sees Trinculo and imagines him to be one of the spirits. Hoping to
avoid pinching, he lies down and covers himself with his cloak. Trinculo hears the
thunder and looks about for some cover from the storm. The only thing he sees is
the cloak-covered Caliban on the ground. He is not so much repulsed by Caliban as
curious. He cannot decide whether Caliban is a “man or a fish” (II.ii.24). He thinks
of a time when he traveled to England and witnessed freak-shows there. Caliban,
he thinks, would bring him a lot of money in England. Thunder sounds again and
Trinculo decides that the best shelter in sight is beneath Caliban’s cloak, and so he
joins the man-monster there.
Stefano enters singing and drinking. He hears Caliban cry out to Trinculo, “Do not
torment me! O!” (II.ii.54). Hearing this and seeing the four legs sticking out from
the cloak, Stefano thinks the two men are a four-legged monster with a fever.
He decides to relieve this fever with a drink. Caliban continues to resist Trinculo,
whom he still thinks is a spirit tormenting him. Trinculo recognizes Stefano’s voice
and says so. Stefano, of course, assumes for a moment that the monster has two
heads, and he promises to pour liquor in both mouths. Trinculo now calls out to
Stefano, and Stefano pulls his friend out from under the cloak. While the two men
discuss how they arrived safely on shore, Caliban enjoys the liquor and begs to
worship Stefano. The men take full advantage of Caliban’s drunkenness, mocking
him as a “most ridiculous monster” (II.ii.157) as he promises to lead them around
and show them the isle.
ACT THREE
Act III, Scene i
Back at Prospero’s cell, Ferdinand takes over Caliban’s duties and carries wood
for Prospero. Unlike Caliban, however, Ferdinand has no desire to curse. Instead,
he enjoys his labors because they serve the woman he loves, Miranda. As Ferdinan d works and thinks of Miranda, she enters, and after her, unseen by either
lover, Prospero enters. Miranda tells Ferdinand to take a break from his work, or
to let her work for him, thinking that her father is away. Ferdinand refuses to let
her work for him but does rest from his work and asks Miranda her name. She
tells him, and he is pleased: “Miranda” comes from the same Latin word that
gives English the word “admiration.” Ferdinand’s speech plays on the etymology:
“Admired Miranda! / Indeed the top of admiration, worth / What’s dearest to the
world!” (III.i.37–39).
Ferdinand goes on to flatter his beloved. Miranda is, of course, modest, pointing
out that she has no idea of any woman’s face but her own. She goes on to praise
Ferdinand’s face, but then stops herself, remembering her father’s instructions that
she should not speak to Ferdinand. Ferdinand assures Miranda that he is a prince
and probably a king now, though he prays his father is not dead. Miranda seems
unconcerned with Ferdinand’s title, and asks only if he loves her. Ferdinand replies
enthusiastically that he does, and his response emboldens Miranda to propose
marriage. Ferdinand accepts and the two part. Prospero comes forth, subdued in
his happiness, for he has known that this would happen. He then hastens to his
book of magic in order to prepare for remaining business.
Act III, Scene ii
Caliban, Trinculo, and Stefano continue to drink and wander about the island.
Stefano now refers to Caliban as “servant monster” and repeatedly orders him to
drink. Caliban seems happy to obey. The men begin to quarrel, mostly in jest, in
their drunkenness. Stefano has now assumed the title of Lord of the Island and he
promises to hang Trinculo if Trinculo should mock his servant monster. Ariel, invisible, enters just as Caliban is telling the men that he is “subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island” (III.ii.40–41). Ariel begins
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to stir up trouble, calling out, “Thou liest” (III.ii.42). Caliban cannot see Ariel and
thinks that Trinculo said this. He threatens Trinculo, and Stefano tells Trinculo not
to interrupt Caliban anymore. Trinculo protests that he said nothing. Drunkenly,
they continue talking, and Caliban tells them of his desire to get revenge against
Prospero. Ariel continues to interrupt now and then with the words, “Thou liest.”
Ariel’s ventriloquizing ultimately results in Stefano hitting Trinculo.
While Ariel looks on, Caliban plots against Prospero. The key, Caliban tells his
friends, is to take Prospero’s magic books. Once they have done this, they can
kill Prospero and take his daughter. Stefano will become king of the island and
Miranda will be his queen. Trinculo tells Stefano that he thinks this plan is a good
idea, and Stefano apologizes for the previous quarreling. Caliban assures them
that Prospero will be asleep within the half hour.
Ariel plays a tune on his flute and tabor-drum. Stefano and Trinculo wonder at
this noise, but Caliban tells them it is nothing to fear. Stefano relishes the thought
of possessing this island kingdom “where I shall have my music for nothing” (III.
ii.139–140). Then the men decide to follow the music and afterward to kill Prospero.
Act III, Scene iii
Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, and their companion lords become
exhausted, and Alonso gives up all hope of finding his son. Antonio, still hoping
to kill Alonso, whispers to Sebastian that Alonso’s exhaustion and desperation will
provide them with the perfect opportunity to kill the king later that evening.
At this point “solemn and strange music” fills the stage (III.iii.17, stage direction),
and a procession of spirits in “several strange shapes” enters, bringing a banquet
of food (III.iii.19, stage direction). The spirits dance about the table, invite the king
and his party to eat, and then dance away. Prospero enters at this time as well,
having rendered himself magically invisible to everyone but the audience. The men
disagree at first about whether to eat, but Gonzalo persuades them it will be all
right, noting that travelers are returning every day with stories of unbelievable but
true events. This, he says, might be just such an event.
Just as the men are about to eat, however, a noise of thunder erupts, and Ariel
enters in the shape of a harpy. He claps his wings upon the table and the banquet
vanishes. Ariel mocks the men for attempting to draw their swords, which magically have been made to feel heavy. Calling himself an instrument of Fate and
Destiny, he goes on to accuse Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio of driving Prospero
from Milan and leaving him and his child at the mercy of the sea. For this sin, he
tells them, the powers of nature and the sea have exacted revenge on Alonso
by taking Ferdinand. He vanishes, and the procession of spirits enters again and
removes the banquet table. Prospero, still invisible, applauds the work of his spirit
and announces with satisfaction that his enemies are now in his control. He leaves
them in their distracted state and goes to visit with Ferdinand and his daughter.
Alonso, meanwhile, is quite desperate. He has heard the name of Prospero once
more, and it has signaled the death of his own son. He runs to drown himself.
Sebastian and Antonio, meanwhile, decide to pursue and fight with the spirits.
Gonzalo, ever the voice of reason, tells the other, younger lords to run after Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso and to make sure that none of the three does anything
rash.
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ACT FOUR
Act IV, Scene i
Prospero gives his blessing to Ferdinand and Miranda, warning Ferdinand only
that he take care not to break Miranda’s “virgin-knot” before the wedding has
been solemnized (IV.i.15–17). Ferdinand promises to comply. Prospero then calls
in Ariel and asks him to summon spirits to perform a masque for Ferdinand and
Miranda. Soon, three spirits appear in the shapes of the mythological figures of Iris
(Juno’s messenger and the goddess of the rainbow), Juno (queen of the gods), and
Ceres (goddess of agriculture). This trio performs a masque celebrating the lovers’
engagement. First, Iris enters and asks Ceres to appear at Juno’s wish, to celebrate
“a contract of true love.” Ceres appears, and then Juno enters. Juno and Ceres
together bless the couple, with Juno wishing them honor and riches, and Ceres
wishing them natural prosperity and plenty. The spectacle awes Ferdinand and he
says that he would like to live on the island forever, with Prospero as his father and
Miranda as his wife. Juno and Ceres send Iris to fetch some nymphs and reapers
to perform a country dance. Just as this dance begins, however, Prospero startles
suddenly and then sends the spirits away. Prospero, who had forgotten about
Caliban’s plot against him, suddenly remembers that the hour nearly has come for
Caliban and the conspirators to make their attempt on his life.
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. (IV.i.148–158)
Prospero’s apparent anger alarms Ferdinand and Miranda, but Prospero assures
the young couple that his consternation is largely a result of his age; he says that
a walk will soothe him. Prospero makes a short speech about the masque, saying
that the world itself is as insubstantial as a play, and that human beings are “such
stuff / As dreams are made on.” Ferdinand and Miranda leave Prospero to himself,
and the old enchanter immediately summons Ariel, who seems to have made a
mistake by not reminding Prospero of Caliban’s plot before the beginning of the
masque. Prospero now asks Ariel to tell him again what the three conspirators are
up to, and Ariel tells him of the men’s drunken scheme to steal Prospero’s book
and kill him. Ariel reports that he used his music to lead these men through rough
and prickly briars and then into a filthy pond. Prospero thanks his trusty spirit, and
the two set a trap for the three would-be assassins.
On a clothesline in Prospero’s cell, Prospero and Ariel hang an array of fine apparel
for the men to attempt to steal, after which they render themselves invisible. Caliban, Trinculo, and Stefano enter, wet from the filthy pond. The fine clothing immediately distracts Stefano and Trinculo. They want to steal it, despite the protests of
Caliban, who wants to stick to the plan and kill Prospero. Stefano and Trinculo
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ignore him. Soon after they touch the clothing, there is “A noise of hunters” (IV.
i.251, stage direction). A pack of spirits in the shape of hounds, set on by Ariel
and Prospero, drives the thieves out.
ACT FIVE
Act V, Scene i and Epilogue
Ariel tells Prospero that the day has reached its “sixth hour” (6 p.m.), when Ariel is
allowed to stop working. Prospero acknowledges Ariel’s request and asks how the
king and his followers are faring. Ariel tells him that they are currently imprisoned,
as Prospero ordered, in a grove. Alonso, Antonio, and Sebastian are mad with
fear; and Gonzalo, Ariel says, cries constantly. Prospero tells Ariel to go release the
men, and now alone on stage, delivers his famous soliloquy in which he gives up
magic. He says he will perform his last task and then break his staff and drown his
magic book.
Ariel now enters with Alonso and his companions, who have been charmed and
obediently stand in a circle. Prospero speaks to them in their charmed state, praising Gonzalo for his loyalty and chiding the others for their treachery. He then
sends Ariel to his cell to fetch the clothes he once wore as Duke of Milan. Ariel
goes and returns immediately to help his master to put on the garments. Prospero
promises to grant freedom to his loyal helper-spirit and sends him to fetch the
Boatswain and mariners from the wrecked ship. Ariel goes.
Prospero releases Alonso and his companions from their spell and speaks with
them. He forgives Antonio but demands that Antonio return his dukedom. Antonio does not respond and does not, in fact, say a word for the remainder of the
play except to note that Caliban is “no doubt marketable” (V.i.269). Alonso now
tells Prospero of the missing Ferdinand. Prospero tells Alonso that he, too, has
lost a child in this last tempest—his daughter. Alonso continues to be wracked
with grief. Prospero then draws aside a curtain, revealing behind it Ferdinand and
Miranda, who are playing a game of chess. Alonso is ecstatic at the discovery.
Meanwhile, the sight of more humans impresses Miranda. Alonso embraces his
son and daughter-in-law to be and begs Miranda’s forgiveness for the treacheries
of twelve years ago. Prospero silences Alonso’s apologies, insisting that the reconciliation is complete.
After arriving with the Boatswain and mariners, Ariel is sent to fetch Caliban, Trinculo, and Stefano, which he speedily does. The three drunken thieves are sent to
Prospero’s cell to return the clothing they stole and to clean it in preparation for
the evening’s reveling. Prospero then invites Alonso and his company to stay the
night. He will tell them the tale of his last twelve years, and in the morning, they
can all set out for Naples, where Miranda and Ferdinand will be married. After the
wedding, Prospero will return to Milan, where he plans to contemplate the end of
his life. The last charge Prospero gives to Ariel before setting him free is to make
sure the trip home is made on “calm seas” with “auspicious gales” (V.i.318).
The other characters exit, and Prospero delivers the epilogue. He describes the loss
of his magical powers (“Now my charms are all o’erthrown”) and says that, as he
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imprisoned Ariel and Caliban, the audience has now imprisoned him on the stage.
He says that the audience can only release him by applauding, and asks them to
remember that his only desire was to please them. He says that, as his listeners
would like to have their own crimes forgiven, they should forgive him, and set him
free by clapping.
Patrick Stewart as
Prospero in
The Tempest
(Photo by
Manuel Harlan)
Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/
Themes in The Tempest
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The Illusion of Justice
The Tempest tells a fairly straightforward story involving an unjust act, the usurpation of Prospero’s throne by his brother, and Prospero’s quest to re-establish justice
by restoring himself to power. However, the idea of justice that the play works
toward seems highly subjective, since this idea represents the view of one character who controls the fate of all the other characters. Though Prospero presents
himself as a victim of injustice working to right the wrongs that have been done
to him, Prospero’s idea of justice and injustice is somewhat hypocritical—though
he is furious with his brother for taking his power, he has no qualms about enslaving Ariel and Caliban in order to achieve his ends. At many moments throughout
the play, Prospero’s sense of justice seems extremely one-sided and mainly involves
what is good for Prospero. Moreover, because the play offers no notion of higher
order or justice to supersede Prospero’s interpretation of events, the play is morally
ambiguous.
As the play progresses, however, it becomes more and more involved with the
idea of creativity and art, and Prospero’s role begins to mirror more explicitly the
role of an author creating a story around him. With this metaphor in mind, and
especially if we accept Prospero as a surrogate for Shakespeare himself, Prospero’s
sense of justice begins to seem, if not perfect, at least sympathetic. Moreover, the
means he uses to achieve his idea of justice mirror the machinations of the artist,
who also seeks to enable others to see his view of the world. Playwrights arrange
their stories in such a way that their own idea of justice is imposed upon events.
In The Tempest, the author is in the play, and the fact that he establishes his idea
of justice and creates a happy ending for all the characters becomes a cause for
celebration, not criticism.
By using magic and tricks that echo the special effects and spectacles of the theater, Prospero gradually persuades the other characters and the audience of the
rightness of his case. As he does so, the ambiguities surrounding his methods
slowly resolve themselves. Prospero forgives his enemies, releases his slaves, and
relinquishes his magic power, so that, at the end of the play, he is only an old man
whose work has been responsible for all the audience’s pleasure. The establishment of Prospero’s idea of justice becomes less a commentary on justice in life
than on the nature of morality in art. Happy endings are possible, Shakespeare
seems to say, because the creativity of artists can create them, even if the moral
values that establish the happy ending originate from nowhere but the imagination of the artist.
The Difficulty of Distinguishing “Men” from “Monsters”
Upon seeing Ferdinand for the first time, Miranda says that he is “the third man
that e’er I saw” (I.ii.449). The other two are, presumably, Prospero and Caliban. In
their first conversation with Caliban, however, Miranda and Prospero say very little
that shows they consider him to be human. Miranda reminds Caliban that before
she taught him language, he gabbled “like / A thing most brutish” (I.ii.59–60) and
Prospero says that he gave Caliban “human care” (I.ii.349), implying that this wassomething Caliban ultimately did not deserve. Caliban’s exact nature continues to
be slightly ambiguous later. In Act IV, scene i, reminded of Caliban’s plot, Prospero
refers to him as a “devil, a born devil, on whose nature / Nurture can never
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stick” (IV.i.188–189). Miranda and Prospero both have contradictory views of
Caliban’s humanity. On the one hand, they think that their education of him has
lifted him from his formerly brutish status. On the other hand, they seem to see
him as inherently brutish. His devilish nature can never be overcome by nurture,
according to Prospero. Miranda expresses a similar sentiment in Act I, scene ii:
“thy vile race, / Though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures /
Could not abide to be with” (I.ii.361–363). The inhuman part of Caliban drives
out the human part, the “good nature,” that is imposed on him.
Caliban claims that he was kind to Prospero, and that Prospero repaid that
kindness by imprisoning him (see I.ii.347). In contrast, Prospero claims that he
stopped being kind to Caliban once Caliban had tried to rape Miranda (I.ii.347–
351). Which character the audience decides to believe depends on whether it
views Caliban as inherently brutish, or as made brutish by oppression. The play
leaves the matter ambiguous. Caliban balances all of his eloquent speeches, such
as his curses in Act I, scene ii and his speech about the isle’s “noises” in Act III,
scene ii, with the most degrading kind of drunken, servile behavior. But Trinculo’s
speech upon first seeing Caliban (II.ii.18–38), the longest speech in the play,
reproaches too harsh a view of Caliban and blurs the distinction between men
and monsters. In England, which he visited once, Trinculo says, Caliban could be
shown off for money: “There would this monster make a man. Any strange beast
there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they
will lay out ten to see a dead Indian” (II.ii.28–31). What seems most monstrous in
these sentences is not the “dead Indian,” or “any strange beast,” but the cruel
voyeurism of those who capture and gape at them.
The Allure of Ruling a Colony
The nearly uninhabited island presents the sense of infinite possibility to almost
everyone who lands there. Prospero has found it, in its isolation, an ideal place to
school his daughter. Sycorax, Caliban’s mother, worked her magic there after she
was exiled from Algeria. Caliban, once alone on the island, now Prospero’s slave,
laments that he had been his own king (I.ii.344–345). As he attempts to comfort
Alonso, Gonzalo imagines a utopian society on the island, over which he would
rule (II.i.148–156). In Act III, scene ii, Caliban suggests that Stefano kill Prospero,
and Stefano immediately envisions his own reign: “Monster, I will kill this man.
His daughter and I will be King and Queen—save our graces!—and Trinculo and
thyself shall be my viceroys” (III.ii.101–103). Stefano particularly looks forward to
taking advantage of the spirits that make “noises” on the isle; they will provide
music for his kingdom for free. All these characters envision the island as a space
of freedom and unrealized potential.
The tone of the play, however, toward the hopes of the would-be colonizers is
vexed at best. Gonzalo’s utopian vision in Act II, scene i is undercut by a sharp
retort from the usually foolish Sebastian and Antonio. When Gonzalo says that
there would be no commerce or work or “sovereignty” in his society, Sebastian
replies, “yet he would be king on’t,” and Antonio adds, “The latter end of his
commonwealth forgets the beginning” (II.i.156–157). Gonzalo’s fantasy thus
involves him ruling the island while seeming not to rule it, and in this he becomes
a kind of parody of Prospero.
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While there are many representatives of the colonial impulse in the play, the colonized have only one representative: Caliban. We might develop sympathy for him
at first, when Prospero seeks him out merely to abuse him, and when we see him
tormented by spirits. However, this sympathy is made more difficult by his willingness to abase himself before Stefano in Act II, scene ii. Even as Caliban plots to kill
one colonial master (Prospero) in Act III, scene ii, he sets up another (Stefano). The
urge to rule and the urge to be ruled seem inextricably intertwined.
Emma Jay Thomas (Goddess) in rehearsal for The Tempest
(Photo by Ellie Kurttz)
Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/tempest/themes.html
Portrait of William Shakespeare
distributed by Corbis--BettmannPortrait of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare
Biography of William Shakespeare
For all his fame and celebration, William Shakespeare remains a mysterious figure
with regards to personal history. There are just two primary sources for information
on the Bard: his works, and various legal and church documents that have survived
from Elizabethean times.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23,
1564. Young William was born to John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, an heiress. William was the third of eight children-three
of whom died in childhood. John Shakespeare had a remarkable run of success
as a merchant, and later as an alderman and high bailiff of Stratford. His fortunes
declined, however, in the 1570s.
There is great conjecture about Shakespeare’s childhood years, especially regarding his education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free
grammar school in Stratford, which at the time had an outstanding reputation.
While there are no records extant to prove this claim, Shakespeare’s knowledge of
Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support this theory. John Shakespeare, as
a Stratford official, would have been granted a waiver of tuition for his son. Certainly the literary quality of Shakespeare’s works suggest a solid education. William
Shakespeare never proceeded to university.
William Shakepeare wed Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was
18 at the time, and Anne was 26. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May
26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith, born February 2, 1585.
Hamnet died in childhood at the age of 11, on August 11, 1596.
It is estimated that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and began to
establish himself as an actor and playwright. By 1594, he was not only acting and
writing for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (called the King’s Men after the ascension
of James I in1603), but was a managing partner in the operation as well. With Will
Kempe, a master comedian, and Richard Burbage, a leading tragic actor of the
day, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men became a favorite London troupe, patronized by
royalty and made popular by the theatre-going public. When the plague forced
theatre closings in the mid-1590s, Shakespeare and his company made plans for
opening the Globe Theatre in the Bankside district.
His company was the most successful in London in his day. He had plays published
and sold in octavo editions, or “penny-copies” to the more literate of his audiences. It is noted that never before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to
see his works published and sold as popular literature in the midst of his career.
While Shakespeare could not be accounted wealthy, his success allowed him to
retire in comfort to Stratford in 1611.
William Shakespeare allegedly died on his birthday, April 23, 1616. This is probably more of a romantic myth than reality, but Shakespeare was interred at Holy
Trinity in Stratford on April 25. In 1623, two working companions of Shakespeare
from the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, John Heminges and Henry Condell, printed the
First Folio edition of the Collected Works, of which half the plays contained therein
were previously unpublished. The First Folio also contained Shakespeare’s sonnets.
William Shakespeare’s legacy is a body of work that will never again be equaled in
Western civilization. His words have endured for 400 years, and still reach across
the centuries as powerfully as ever.
“...an upstart crow,
beautified with our
feathers, that with his
Tiger’s heart wrapped in a
player’s hide, supposes he
is as well able to
bombast out a blank verse
as the best of you: and
being an absolute Johannes
fac totum, is in his own
conceit the only
Shake-scene in a country.”
Robert Greene, a London
playwright and critic, in 1592
This baptismal record from 1564 lists “Guglielmus filius Johannes Shakespeare,” Latin for “William, Son of
Shakespeare.” This register is now in the possesssion of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford-UponAvon, England.
Shakespeare Family Tree
Lesson Plans
Student busily working during a UMS in-school visit.
Curriculum Connections
Are you interested
in more lesson
plans?
Visit the Kennedy
Center’s ArtsEdge
web site, the
nation’s most
comprehensive
source of artsbased lesson
plans.
www.artsedge.
kennedy-center.
org
Introduction
The following lessons and activities offer suggestions intended to be used in
preparation for the UMS Youth Performance. These lessons are meant to be both
fun and educational, and should be used to create anticipation for the performance.
Use them as a guide to further exploration of the art form. Teachers may pick and
choose from the cross-disciplinary activities and can coordinate with other subject
area teachers. You may wish to use several activities, a single plan, or pursue a
single activity in greater depth, depending on your subject area, the skill level or
maturity of your students and the intended learner outcomes.
Learner Outcomes
•
Each student will develop a feeling of self-worth, pride in work, respect,
appreciation and understanding of other people and cultures, and a desire
for learning now and in the future in a multicultural, gender-fair, and abilitysensitive environment.
•
Each student will develop appropriately to that individual’s potential, skill
in reading, writing, mathematics, speaking, listening, problem solving, and
examining and utilizing information using multicultural, gender-fair and
ability-sensitive materials.
•
Each student will become literate through the acquisition and use of
knowledge appropriate to that individual’s potential,
through a comprehensive, coordinated curriculum, including
computer literacy in a multicultural, gender-fair, and ability-sensitive
environment.
Meeting Michigan Standards
UMS can help you
meet Michigan’s
Curricular
Standards!
The activities in this
study guide,
combined with the
live performance, are
aligned with Michigan
Standards and
Benchmarks.
For a complete list of
Standards and
Benchmarks, visit the
Michigan Department
of Education online:
www.michigan.gov/
mde
Arts Education
Standard 1: Performing All students will apply skills and knowledge to perform in the arts.
Standard 2: Creating All students will apply skills and knowledge to create in the arts.
Standard 3: Analyzing in Context All students will analyze, describe, and evaluate works of art.
Standard 4: Arts in Context All students will understand, analyze, and describe the arts in their
historical, social, and cultural contexts.
Standard 5: Connecting to other Arts, other Disciplines, and Life All students will recognize,
analyze, and describe connections among the arts; between the arts and other disciplines;
between the arts and everyday life.
English Language Arts
Standard 3: Meaning and Communication All students will focus on meaning and communication
as they listen, speak, view, read, and write in personal, social, occupational, and civic
contexts.
Standard 5: Literature All students will read and analyze a wide variety of classic and contemporary
literature and other texts to seek information, ideas, enjoyment, and understanding of their
individuality, our common heritage and common humanity, and the rich diversity of our society.
Standard 6: Voice All students will learn to communicate information accurately and effectively and
demonstrate their expressive abilities by creating oral, written, and visual texts that enlighten
and engage an audience.
Standard 7: Skills and Processes All students will demonstrate, analyze, and reflect upon the skills
and processes used to communicate through listening, speaking, viewing, reading, and
writing.
Standard 12: Critical Standards All students will develop and apply personal, shared, and academic
criteria for the enjoyment, appreciation, and evaluation of their own and others’ oral, written,
and visual texts.
Social Studies
Standard I-2: Comprehending the Past All students will understand narratives about major eras of
American and world history by identifying the people involved, describing the setting, and
sequencing the events.
Standard I-3: Analyzing and Interpreting the Past All students will reconstruct the past by
comparing interpretations written by others form a variety of perspectives and creating
narratives from evidence.
Standard II-1: People, Places, and Cultures All students will describe, compare, and explain the
locations and characteristics of places, cultures, and settlements.
Standard III-3: Democracy in Action All students will describe the political and legal processes
created to make decisions, seek consensus, and resolve conflicts in a free society.
Standard VII-1: Responsible Personal Conduct All students will consider the effects of an
individual’s actions on other people, how one acts in accordance with the rule of law, and
how one acts in a virtuous and ethically responsible way as a member of society.
Math
Standard I-1: Patterns Students recognize similarities and generalize patterns, use patterns to create
models and make predictions, describe the nature of patterns and relationships, and
construct representations of mathematical relationships.
Standard I-2: Variability and Change Students describe the relationships among variables, predict
what will happen to one variable as another variable is changed, analyze natural variation
and sources of variability, and compare patterns of change.analytic and descriptive tool,
identify characteristics and define shapes, identify properties, and describe relationships
among shapes.
Science
Standard I-1: Constructing New Scientific Knowledge All students will ask questions that help
them learn about the world; design and conduct investigations using appropriate
methodology and technology; learn from books and other sources of information; communicate their findings using appropriate technology; and reconstruct previously learned knowledge.
Standard IV-1: Matter and Energy All students will measure and describe the things around us;
explain what the world around us is made of; identify and describe forms of energy; and
explain how electricity and magnetism interact with matter.
Standard IV-3: Motion of Objects All students will describe how things around us move and explain
why things move as they do; demonstrate and explain how we control the motions of
objects; and relate motion to energy and energy conversions.
Standard IV-4: Waves and Vibrations All students will describe sounds and sound waves; explain
shadows, color, and other light phenomena; measure and describe vibrations and waves; and
explain how waves and vibrations transfer energy.
Career and Employability
Standard 1: Applied Academic Skills All students will apply basic communication skills, apply
scientific and social studies concepts, perform mathematical processes, and apply technology
in work-related situations.
Standard 2: Career Planning All students will acquire, organize, interpret, and evaluate information
from career awareness and exploration activities, career assessment, and work-based
experiences to identify and to pursue their career goals.
Standard 3: Developing and Presenting Information All students will demonstrate the ability to
combine ideas or information in new ways, make connections between seemingly unrelated
ideas, and organize and present information in formats such as symbols, pictures, schematics,
charts, and graphs.
Standard 5: Personal Management All students will display personal qualities such as responsibility,
self-management, self-confidence, ethical behavior, and respect for self and others.
Standard 7: Teamwork All students will work cooperatively with people of diverse backgrounds and
abilities, identify with the group’s goals and values, learn to exercise leadership, teach others
new skills, serve clients or customers and contribute to a group process with ideas,
suggestions, and efforts.
Technology
Standard 2: Using Information Technologies All students will use technologies to input, retrieve,
organize, manipulate, evaluate, and communicate information.
Standard 3: Applying Appropriate Technologies All students will apply appropriate technologies
to critical thinking, creative expression, and decision-making skills.
World Languages
Standard 5: Constructing Meaning All students will extract meaning and knowledge from
authentic non-English language texts, media presentations, and oral communication.
Standard 6: Linking Language and Culture All students will connect to a non-English language
and culture through texts, writing, discussions, and projects.
Standard 8: Global Community All students will define and characterize the global community.
Standard 9: Diversity All students will identify diverse languages and cultures throughout the world.
Health
Standard 3: Health Behaviors All students will practice health-enhancing behaviors and reduce
health risks.
Assessing Prior Knowledge
This lesson was
designed with
older students
in mind, but can
easily be adapted
to suit younger
students as well.
Assessing student’s prior knowledge before a performance is a great way to prepare them for what they are about to see, and offers an opportunity for discussion.
Here are a few questions you might find helpful in preparing your students for The
Tempest.
• What is theatre? How does it fit into our lives?
• Ask your students if they have ever attended a performance before.
If they have, what? If they haven’t, what do they think it would be like
to attend? If they have attended a Shakespeare performance, what, if
anything, makes it different from other plays?
• Ask the students to compare the differences between going to
sports events and attending the theater.
• Have your students create their own University Musical Society in
which they could perform in anything they wanted. What would
they be, and who would help them?
• Discuss the kinds of jobs associated with a performing arts center:
costumer, dancer, director, actor, stage manager, set designer,
musician, etc. If they could work in a theater, what would they do?
• What do your students know about Shakespeare already?
• Ask students if they know any famous Shakespearean quotations.
• Please refer to page 27-29 of this study guide to spark discussion questions
regarding the themes of The Tempest.
Lesson 1: It’s Shakespeare!
Objective:
Students will explore their preconceived notions of Shakespeare before reading and viewing Richard III and again after discussing the work. By interviewing
others, they will be able to measure the degree to which Shakespeare’s plays and
characters have permeated contemporary life and decide for themselves if Shakespeare has a place in today’s classroom.
Materials:
Three Handouts
Procedures:
HANDOUT 1
•. Explain that the class will be studying The Tempest to prepare for a live
performance by the Royal Shakespreare Company Before beginning a study unit,
however, you’d like to see what they think and know about Shakespeare.
•Distribute Handout 1 among the class. Ask the students to rate each statement
on a scale of 1 to 4. 1 = strongly agree 2 = agree somewhat 3 = disagree
somewhat 4 = strongly disagree.
•. Now ask the class to move around the room and interview two classmates,
putting their answers in Columns B and C.
• When everyone’s chart has the first three columns filled in, bring the class
together to discuss the results.
HANDOUT 2
•. Divide the class into groups of equal size and ability. Distribute Handout 2 face
down, one paper to each group.
•. Explain that each group has fifteen minutes to try to answer as many questions
as possible.
•. On your signal, the groups should begin.
(continued on next page)
Lesson 1(cont.)
. • When the fifteen minutes are up, reconvene the class to discuss the
answers.
“Bubble, bubble, toil
and trouble”
(Shakespeare, Macbeth)
“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a
horse!”
(Shakespeare, Richard III)
“Hogwash!”
(n/a)
“A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow
basket”
(1950’s song)
“To be or not to be”
(Shakespeare, Hamlet)
“Thine eyes have seen the glory”
(Howe, “Battle Hymn of the Republic”)
“To thine own self be true”
(Shakespeare, Hamlet)
“Bah, humbug!”
(Dickens, A Christmas Carol)
“in order to form a more
perfect union”
(U.S. Constitution)
“In Fair Verona, where we set our stage”
(Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
HANDOUT 3: CLOSURE/HOMEWORK
• Now that students have had a chance to reflect on their experiences,
distribute Handout 3 as a closure activity/homework.
Handout 1: The Survery Says...
What happens when you shout the word “Shakespeare” in a crowded room? Do half the
occupants run for cover while the other half begin to recite?
Before reading and seeing The Tempest, take some time to measure your attitudes and those of
your friends and family about Shakespeare. For your own answers, use Column A below.
Enter number 1 if you strongly agree with the statement, 2 if you agree somewhat, 3 if you
disagree somewhat, and 4 if you strongly disagree. Then ask two classmates what they think
and record their responses in Columns B and C. Finally, after experiencing and discussing the
play, fill in Column D, noting differences between your “before” and “after” responses.
1=strongly agree
2=agree somewhat
3=disagree somewhat
You
4=strongly disagree
Friend 1
Friend 2
1. I would not enjoy watching a Shakespearean play.
2. That’s old stuff; Shakespeare has no relevance to life
today.
3. Nobody can understand Shakespeare’s plays without
notes and definitions in the margins.
4. Shakespeare should be required reading for
high school and college students.
5. People’s problems and behaviors change
significantly from one century to another.
6. Shakespeare’s plays were meant for the upper class.
7. People can’t appreciate Shakespeare because his
language is so different from ours.
Handout 2: What do you know?
Many people have heard of Shakespeare, but how much do they really know about him and his plays?
In your group, work together to try to answer these questions without notes.
1. Name two works by William Shakespeare.
2. Name the country where Shakespeare was born.
3. Name one genre of literature that Shakespeare wrote.
4. Circle the lines written by Shakespeare. There are 5 in all.
“Bubble, bubble, toil
and trouble”
“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
“Hogwash!”
“A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket”
“To be or not to be”
“Thine eyes have seen the glory”
“To thine own self be true”
“Bah, humbug!”
“in order to form a more
perfect union”
“In Fair Verona, where we set our stage”
5. Choose one of the Shakespeare lines from #4. What does the line mean?
Adapted from a lesson designed by Youth Media International.
Handout 3: Shakespeare and School
Should Shakespeare Still Be in School?
Imagine you have been elected student representative to your school’s curriculum committee. At a
meeting, someone proposes dropping Shakespeare from the required curriculum, arguing that he is
difficult to read, irrelevant to today’s students, and not representative of the cultural and social
population of the school. Before the committee votes, you must present your position on this issue.
Use results of the surveys you have conducted to prepare a brief statement:
I feel strongly that we should/should not drop Shakespeare from the curriculum because...
[Continue your answers on an additional sheet of paper if necessary]
Lesson 2: Getting Into Character
Objective:
For students to gain a deeper understanding of Prospero’s emotions and plans
through a monologue.
Materials:
Handout 4 on following page
Highlighters, markers or colored pencils
Warm-up:
•. Distribute Handout 4 to the class.
• Arrange the class in a circle.
• Explain to the class that this is a speech from The Tempest and that each
student is only responsible for one word at a time. This activity is recommended
by the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Royal Shakespeare Company as a way
for student to gain meanings faster connections with Shakespeare’s words while
gaining a greater meaning.
• Here are some questions to help students get into character: These questions
should be kept in mind, not only as the character is being developed but as it is
being played
1. Who am I?
2. Where am I?
3. What do I want?
4. Why do I want it?
5. What is preventing me from getting it?
6. What am I willing to do to get what I want?
7. Whom do I want it from?
8. When do I need it?
Alternate Activity:
• Assign each student a number from 1-30. Divide the monologue into 30 parts,
so some students may need to read more than one part.
• Ask each student to use a highlighter, marker or colored pencil to mark each of
his/her lines.
• Read the speech aloud in choral style.
Handout 4: A Monologue
This monologue is intended to be used with Lesson 2 of this study guide.
PROSPERO (Act 5, Scene i, Epilogue):
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 not,
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 sails
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.
Lesson 3: Create Your Own UMS
Objective
For students to learn about the workings of an arts organization, increase
Internet research skills, and become familiar with a wider variety of art forms and
performers.
Materials
Internet Access
Opening Discussion
At arts organizations such as University Musical Society, a great deal of work
is needed to put on a concert series. UMS has eight departments, 30 staff
members, and over 20 interns working together to help concerts go as well as
possible!
Each year, the organization must decide what artists it will hire, when they will
perform, and in what venue. It is very important to have a variety of art forms.
For example, UMS offers dance, theater, jazz, orchestral, chamber music, and
soloists throughout the season. It is also important to UMS to choose performers
who will appeal to people from different backgrounds. For the 2006-2007
season, several shows are centered on Mexico and the Americas. UMS also tries
to include concerts that showcase African American heritage, Asian art forms, and
other cultures. In order to meet these goals, negotiations between UMS staff and
the performers’ representatives sometimes begin years in advance.
Activity
•
After explaining briefly how an arts organization like UMS works,
explain that the students will be designing a concert series of their own.
•
Direct the students to UMS’s website at www.ums.org. Let them
explore and read about the different performances being presented this
season. What shows are most interesting to them? Is there an art
form or style they particularly like?
•
Keeping in mind the concerns arts administrators have when planning a
season, have them select concerts they would put on their own concert
series. Feel free to include performers that may not be appearing at
UMS this season. Why did they select those specific artists? How are
the concerts linked? Is there a theme connecting them all (cultural,
same art form, good variety)? (Consider limiting five shows to start.)
•
Write a memo to Ken Fischer, president of University Musical Society,
Tell him what shows you think should be presented and why you
selected them. Mail the memos to the Youth Education Department,
and we’ll give them to Mr. Fischer ourselves!
Discussion/Follow-up
What did you learn from this experience? How was your list different from that of
others? How did you justify your choices?
Theater Vocabulary
Below
Opposite of above; toward the front of the stage.
Blackout
To plunge the stage into total darkness by switching off the lights.
Blocking
The arrangement of the performers’ movements onstage with respect to
each other and the stage space.
Border
A strip of drapery (usually black) or painted canvas hung from a batten to
mask the area above the stage.
Business
Obvious and detailed physical movement of performers to reveal character, help
the action of the play, or establish mood (e.g., pouring a cup of coffee or open
ing a cabinet).
Catharsis
A Greek word that Aristotle used in his definition of tragedy. It refers to
vicarious cleansing of certain emotions in the members of the audience through
seeing those emotions onstage.
Center stage
A stage position in the very middle of the stage.
Complication
The introduction in a play of a new force that creates new balance of power
and makes delay in reaching the climax necessary. It is one way of creating
conflict and precipitating a crisis.
Conflict
Tension between two or more characters that leads to crisis or a climax. The basic
conflict is the fundamental struggle or imbalance underlying the play as a
whole. May also be a conflict of ideas or actions.
Crew
The backstage team responsible for carrying out the technical parts of a production.
Cross
A movement by a performer across the stage in a given direction.
Cue
Any prearranged signal, such as the last words in a speech, a piece of business,
or any action of lighting change that indicates to a performer or stage manager
that it is time to move on to the next line or action.
Theater Vocabulary
Above
Upstage or away from the audience. A performer crossing above a
table keeps it between him/herself and the front of the stage.
Ad lib
To improvise lines of speech, especially in response to an emergency,such as
a performer’s forgetting his or her lines.
Antagonist
The chief opponent of the protagonist in a drama. In some cases,there may
be several antagonists.
Apprentice
A young performer in an Elizabethan acting company who was taught
the art of acting through actual experience and who received room and
board. Apprentices still work in theaters today; today they might also be
called interns; current apprentices can work in all areas of the performing
arts (acting, technical, administrative, and other).
Apron
The stage space in front of the curtain line or proscenium.
Aside
In a play, when a character speaks thoughts aloud without others onstage
noticing.
At rise
An expression used when describing what is happening onstage at the
moment the curtain first rises or the lights come up at the beginning of the
play.
Backdrop
A large drapery or painted canvas that provides the rear or upstage masking
of a set.
Backstage
The parts of the stage unseen by the audience; includes the wings and
dressing rooms.
Basic situation
The specific problem of maladjustment from which the play arises.
Batten
A pipe or long pole suspended horizontally above the stage, upon which
scenery, drapery or lights may be hung. Battens are not seen by the
audience.
Theater Vocabulary
Cue sheet
A list of cues for the use of the crew.
Cyclorama
A large curved drop used to mask the rear and sides of the stage, painted a
neutral color or blue to represent sky oropen space.
Denouement
The moment when the conflict or crisis is solved. The word is French and was
used to refer to the working out of the resolution in a well-made play.
Dimmer
A device that permits lighting intensities to be changed smoothly and at varying
rates.
Director
In American usage,the person who is responsible for the overall unity of the
production and for coordinating the efforts of the contributing artists. The
director is in charge of rehearsals and supervises the performers in the
preparation of their parts. The American director is the equivalent of the British
producer.
Downstage
The front of the stage, toward the audience.
Drop
A large piece of fabric, generally painted canvas, hung from a batten to the
stage floor, usually to serve as the back of the scene.
Ensemble playing
Acting that stretches the total artistic unity of the performance rather than the
individual performances of specific actors and actresses.
Entrance
When an actor comes onto the stage.
Epilogue
A speech addressed to the audience after the conclusion of the play and spoken
by one of the performers. Shakespeare used this device in many of his plays.
Exit
The performer’s leaving of the stage.
Theater Vocabulary
Exposition
The imparting information necessary for an understanding of the story but
not covered by the action onstage. Events or knowlege from the past, or
occurring outside the play, which must be introduced for the audience
to understand the characters or plot. Exposition is always a problem in
drama because relating or conveying information is often boring. The playwright must find ways to make exposition as interesting as possible.
Flat
A single piece of scenery made of canvas stretched over a wooden frame.
Flats may be attached together to create a set.
Fly loft or flies
The space above the stage where scenery may be lifted out of sight by means of
ropes and pulleys when not needed.
Freeze
To remain motionless onstage.
Front of house
The portion of the theater resered for the audience. It is often called simply
“the house.”
Gel
A thin, flexible plastic-like sheet attached to lighting instruments to make
colored light.
Groundlings
Audience members who stood in the yard of the Elizabethan theater, called
“groundlings” because they stood on the ground. More expensive tickets forseating were
available as well.
Hand props
Small props carried onstage or offstage by actors during the performance. See
props.
History play
In the broadest sense, a play set in a historical period that deals with historical
personages. The form originated in Shakespeare’s time, Elizabethan England,
which produced more history plays than any comparable place and time. In that
period, history plays were often designed to teach the audience a lesson based
on a review of the past. Shakespeare was the major writer of Elizabethan
history plays. His style influenced many later history plays, especially those of
August Strindberg.
Theater Vocabulary
Hubris
An ancient Greek term usually defined as “excessive pride” and cited as
common tragic flaw.
Line
A sentence or set of sentences said by an actor. When an actor forgets what
to say next in a rehearsal, she may call, “Line!”
Mask
A face covering to hide the face; also, to hide certain areas from the audience.
Monologue
A long speech made by an actor.
Objective
Russian director Stanislavski’s term for what is urgently desired or sought by a
character.
Obstacle
That which delays or prevents the achieving of a goal by a character. An
obstacle creates complication and conflict.
Offstage
The areas of the stage, usually in the wings or backstage, that are not in view
of the audience.
Onstage
The area of the stage which is in view of the audience.
Pace
The rate at which a performance is played; also, to play a scene or an entire
play in order to determine its proper speed.
Period
A term describing any representation onstage of a former age, as in period
costume or period play.
Pit
The floor of the house in a theater. In Elizabethan times, it was where the
groundlings stood. Today, “pit” can also refer to the sunken area in front of
the stage where an orchestra performs during a musical or opera.
Platform
A raised surface on the stage floor serving as an elevation for parts of the stage
action and allowing for a multiplicity of stage levels.
a
Theater Vocabulary
Plot
The patterned arrangements of events and characters for a drama. The
incidents are selected and arranged for maximum dramatic impact. In modern
plays, the plot may begin long after the beginning of the story and refer to
information regarding the past in flashbacks (going back in time).
Producer
The person responsible for the business side of a production, including raising
the necessary money. In British usage, a producer is the equivalent of the
American director.
Prologue
An introductory speech delivered to the audience by one of the actors or
actresses before the play begins. Prologues are common in many
Shakespearean plays.
Prompt
To furnish a performer with missed or forgotten lines or cues during a
performance. Prompts are almost never used in modern dramas.
Shakespearean plays were rehearsed and performed so quickly that
prompters were necessary to keep the play moving.
Prompt book
The script of a play indicating perofrmers’ movements, light cues, sound
cues, etc. In America, this book is made by the stage manager.
Props (Properties)
Objects used by performers onstage or necessary to complete the set.
Props can be as small as plates or as large as furniture.
Proscenium
The arch or frame surrounding the stage opening in many traditional
spaces. Ann Arbor theaters like the Michigan Theatre and the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater
are considered proscenium spaces. Power Center can adjust to be a proscenium stage or
a thrust stage.
Protagonist
The principal character in a play; the one around whom the play focuses.
The main character.
Repertory or repertoire
The kind of acting company which at any given time has a number of plays
which it can perform alternately; also, a collection of plays.
Reversal
A sudden switch or reversal of circumstances or knowledge which leads to
a result contrary to expectations.
Theater Vocabulary
Scene
A stage setting; or the structural units into which acts of the play are
divided; or the location of a play’s action.
Scrim
A thin, open-weave fabric which is nearly transparent when lit from
behind and opaque when lit from the front.
Script
The written or printed text, consisting of dialogue, stage directions, character
descriptions, and the like, of a play or other theatrical theatrical representation.
Set
The scenery, taken as a whole, for a scene or an entire production.
Set piece
A piece of scenery.
Shareholders
In Elizabethan acting troupes, members who received part of the profits as
payment. Unfortunately, this tradition has all but died out.
Sides
A script containing only the lines and cues for one performer; in Elizabethan
England, this is how actors learned their parts. It is part of why it is difficult
to know which version of Shakespeare is the “truest.” Today, most actors
receive copies of the entire play.
Soliloquy
A speech in which a character who is alone onstage speaks inner thoughts. All
soliloquies are monologues, but not all monologues are soliloquies. “To Be Or
Not To Be,” from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is probably the most famous
soliloquy in theater history.
SRO
Standing room only. A notice that all seats for a performance have been sold
and there is only room for attendees to stand.
Stage convention
An understanding established through custom or usage that certain devices
will be accepted or assigned specific meaning or significance.
Stage door
An outside entrance to the backstage areas which is used by the performers
and crew.
Theater Vocabulary
Stage house
The stage floor and all the space above it. You can easily identify the stage
house from outside a theater because it is almost always the tallest part of
the building.
Strike
To remove pieces of scneery or props from onstage or to take down the entire
set after the performance.
Subtext
A term referring to the meaning and movement of the play below the
surface: something that is implied and never stated.
Theme
The central thought of the play. The idea or ideas with which the play deals
Tragic flaw
The factor which is a character’s chief weakness and which makes him or her
most vulnerable.
Trap
An opening in the stage floor, usually covered, which can be used for special
effects, such as having scenery or performers rise from below, or which permits
the construction of a staircase which supposedly leads to an imaginary lower
floor or cellar. The Power Center is capable of having traps; the area below
the traps is called the Trap Room.
Upstage
At or toward the back of the stage, away from the front edge of the stage.
(See Rake.)
Wings
Left and right offstage areas; also, narrow standing pieces of scenery, or
“legs,” more or less parallel to the proscenium, which form the sides of a
setting.
Work lights
Lights that come up to help the crew see backstage when the curtain is down.
The audience should never see the work lights!
Yard
The pit, or standing area, in the Elizabethan public theater such as
Shakespeare’s Globe.
Theater Vocabulary Word-o
FREE
SPACE
Before the game begins, fill in each box with one of the vocabulary words or phrases below. Your
teacher will call out the definition for one of the words below. If you’ve got the matching word on
your board, cover the space with your chip. When you’ve got a horizontal, vertical, or
diagonal row of five chips, call out WORD-O!
stage
teaser
trap
crew
subtext
ad lib
cue
monologue
flat
gel
soliloquy
protagonist
set
blocking
platform
plot
procenium
obstacle
thespian
trap
John Light (Caliban) and Patrick Stewart (Prospero) in Julius Caesar
(Photo by Manuel Harlan)
Resources
UMS FIELD TRIP PERMISSION Title
SLIP
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We will be taking a field trip to see a University Musical Society (UMS) Dress Rehearsal of the Royal
Shakespeare Company’s production of The Tempest on Wednesday, November 1 from 2:00-5:30pm at
Power Center in Ann Arbor.
We will travel (please circle one) • by car
• by school bus
• by private bus
• by foot
Leaving school at approximately ________am and returning at approximately ________pm.
The UMS Youth Performance Series brings the world’s finest performers in music, dance, theater, opera,
and world cultures to Ann Arbor. This performance features The Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
We (circle one)
• need
• do not need
additional chaperones for this event. (See below to sign up as a chaperone.)
Please (circle one)
• send
lunch along with your child on this day.
• do not send
If your child requires medication to be taken while we are on the trip, please contact us to make
arrangements.
If you would like more information about this Youth Performance, please visit the Education section of
www.ums.org/education. Copies of the Teacher Resource Guide for this performance are available for
you to download.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me at ____________________________________
or send email to _________________________________________________________________________.
Please return this form to the teacher no later than ________________._____________________________
Sincerely,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My son/daughter, __________________________________, has permission to attend the UMS Youth
Performance on Wednesday, November 1, 2006. I understand that transportation will be by _________.
I am interested in chaperoning if needed (circle one).
• yes
• no
Parent/Guardian Signature________________________________________ Date_
Relationship to student ____________________________________________
Daytime phone number__________________________________________
Emergency contact person________________________________________
Emergency contact phone number_________________________________
Title
Internet
Resources
Visit UMS Online
www.ums.org/
education
Arts Resources
www.ums.org/education
The official website of UMS. Visit the Education section (www.ums.org/education)
for study guides, information about community and family events and more
information about the UMS Youth Education Program.
www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org
The nation’s most comprehensive web site for arts education, including lesson
plans, arts education news, grant information, etc.
Royal Shakespeare Compnay
www.rsc.org.uk - The official website of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Site includes information on The Complete Works Festival, about the RSC’s
management, history of the company, and current productions.
Shakespeare
www.shakespeareinamericancommunities.org/home.html - Shakespeare
in the Communities is an initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for
the Arts and Artsmidwest. On this site, teachers may order a teacher’s manual
including lesson plans, Fun with Shakespeare brochure with word games, a
recitation contest guide, timeline poster, audio CD, educational video, and
bookmarks.
www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/ - Developed in partnership with the
Folger Shakespeare Library, these classroom resources were designed around six
thematic strands: Shakespeare’s Language, Shakespeare on Film, Performance,
Primary Sources, Teaching Shakespeare to Elementary Students, and Teaching
Shakespeare with Technology.
http://www.folger.edu/index_sa.cfm?specaudid=2 - This site contains
contains resources for lesson plans, study guides, and ways to use primary sources.
http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/ - The complete text of The Tempest
and other Shakespeare works, courtesy of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology.
Although UMS previewed each web site, we recommend that teachers check all web sites
before introducing them to students, as content may have changed since this guide was
published.
Recommended Reading
Title
UPPER MIDDLE & SECONDARY GRADES
Aliki. William Shakespeare and the Globe. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.
A delightful picture book dividing Shakespeare’s life into ‘acts’ and
‘scenes.
Becker, George J. Shakespeare’s Histories. New York: Frederick Ungar
Publishing,1977.
More academically focused look at the two tetralogies (Richard II to Henry
V and Henry VI, Part I, to Richard III).
There are
many more
books available!
Just visit
www.amazon.com
Bloom, Harold. Bloom’s Major Dramatist: Shakespeare’s Histories. Broomall,
PA: Chelsea House, 2000.
Chute, Marchette. Shakespeare of London. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1949.
A classic book on Shakespeare’s work in London.
Doyle, John, and Ray Lischner. Shakespeare for Dummies. New York; IMG,
1999.
OK, we hate the title, too, but this is a very easily digested introduction to
Shakespeare. If you liked the scorecard, you can find it and many more
here. Includes a plot summary of each Shakespeare play. Introduction by
Dame Judi Dench, well-known in England for her work with the RSC and
best- known in the US for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in
Love.)
Greenhill, Wendy, and Paul Wignall. Shakespeare: Man of the Theater.
Chicago: Heinemann Library, 1999.
Written by RSC’s former Head of Education, this is an easy-to-read sum
mary of Shakespeare’s life, work and culture.
Lamb, Charles and Mary. Tales from Shakespeare, New York: Puffin Classics,
1987.
Turns many of Shakespeare’s plays into fiction format. This work was
originally published in 1807, so the language may be difficult for some.
O’Brien, Peggy, ed. Shakespeare Set Free. New York: Washington Square
Press, 1993.
This book is geared specifically toward teaching Romeo and Juliet,
Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but the activities can be
adapted easily to other plays. In addition to ideas for teaching rhyme,
meter, and figurative language, there are also fun activities. We like the
active learning activites in this book.
Stanley, Diane. Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare. New York:
William Morrow and Company, 1992.
A text-heavy picture book of the life of Shakespeare. A good reference
book for high-interest, low-ability readers.
Wilson, Edwin. Theater: The Lively Art. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1991.
A beginning college textbook covering theatrical history, acting, and
design.
Community
and National Resources
Title
These groups and
organizations can
help you to learn
more about this
topic.
University Musical Society
University of Michigan
Burton Memorial Tower
881 N. University Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1101
734.615.0122
[email protected]
University of Michigan Department of Theatre and Drama
Walgreen Drama Center
1226 Murfin Avenue
734.764.5350
[email protected]
www.music.umich.edu/departments/theatre/index.htm
Wayne State University Department of Theatre
4841 Cass Avenue, Suite 3225
Detroit, MI 48202
313.577.3508
[email protected]
www.theatre.wayne.edu/index2.php
Michigan Shakespeare Festival
PO Box 323
Jackson, MI 49204
517.788.5032
[email protected]
http://michshakefest.org/index.php
Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival
School of Communications
290 Lake Superior Hall
Grand Valley State University
Allendale, MI 49401
616.331.3668
www.gvsu.edu/shakes
Gillian Eaton, actress and educator
[email protected]
Performance Network
120 E Huron St.
734.663.0696
www.performancenetwork.org/
Title
Hilberry Theatre
At Wayne State University
4841 Cass Avenue, Suite 3225
Detroit, MI 48202
313.577.2972
www.hilberry.com/
Oakland University Department of Music, Theatre & Dance
211 Varner Hall
Rochester, MI 48309-4401
248.370.2030
[email protected]
www2.oakland.edu/oakland/ouportal/index.asp?site=67
MeadowBrook Theatre
207 Wilson Hall
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309
248.377.3300
www.mbtheatre.com/
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
800 East Grand Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
312.595.5600
www.chicagoshakes.com/index.html
Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
202.544.4600
www.folger.edu/
Send Us Your Feedback!
UMS wants to know what teachers and students think about this Youth Performance.
We hope you’ll send us your thoughts, drawings, letters or reviews.
UMS Youth Education Program
Burton Memorial Tower • 881 N. University Ave. • Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011
(734) 615-0122 phone • (734) 998-7526 fax • [email protected]

The Tempest Study Guide.indd

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