Ariel changing interpretations over time

Question 1

1667 Davenant and John Dryden production

Answer 1

• The role would have been assumed by a boy-actor
• Ariel appears accompanied by a female sprite - Milcha

Question 2

1660-1785 productions

Answer 2

• beginning of restoration period
• adaptions had Ariel as a women

Question 3

1838 Macready production

Answer 3

• Ariel (female) ‘flies’ in a fair costume on a wire, singing enchantingly
• loyal and white
• contrasts Caliban
• obedient and submissive

Question 4

Margaret Leighton as Ariel in 1952

Answer 4

• Caliban and Ariel as antithesis of each other in size, sex, attitude and colour
• portrayed as more sexy

Question 5

1970 Mermaid Theatre

Answer 5

• Johnathon Miller as director
• Norman Beaton playing Ariel
• educated slave, planning to take control when colonialists left
• Caliban was an uneducated field slave
• picks up Prospero’s broken staff and points it menacingly at Caliban

Question 6

1984 Cobb’s Positive

Answer 6

• Caliban and Ariel are part of Prospero’s own nature: Ariel is an embodiment of the magician’s desire for reconciliation among his fragmented psyche
• Caliban represents that Prospero has come to terms with his irrationality and passion

Question 7

1993 Sam Mendes production

Answer 7

• Ariel’s vitriol was equal to Caliban’s
• dominant magic and control weakened Prospero
• aware of ‘slave’ status
• aggressively spits in Prospero’s face

Question 8

2025 Sigourney Weaver production

Answer 8

• traditional
• Ariel played by a non-binary actor, illustrating his omnipresence