Tempest Performance History and quotes

Question 1

Where was the tempest first set and why is this important

Answer 1

Blackfriars, higher class audience, theme of power and revenge is central

Question 2

Black friars music gallery

Answer 2

Could alter the dramatic topography, Ariel/Prospero could appear in them, also key for drawing away characters for example Ferdinand in his cell

Question 3

What was the blackfriars like

Answer 3

Moody, dark and ornate

Question 4

Sycorax

Answer 4

The oppressed, silent colonial, islamic expansion? From Algiers

Question 5

Jungian reading of Caliban

Answer 5

‘the archetypal shadow’ Everything that Prospero doesn’t want to admit about himself

Question 6

1605

Answer 6

Gunpowder plot, Guy Fawkes, plotting and power at the for front of everyone minds, idea of the ‘divine right’

Question 7

Montaigne context

Answer 7

‘On Canibals’ the Utopian vision copied of Montaigne, useful for our understanding of Caliban as a character, Gonzalo’s “Golden age” and the idea of the ‘nobel savage’

Question 8

Racial undertones

Answer 8

Alonso lost his daughter “to an African” remember it would have a different reception depending on when they play was performed

Question 9

Prospero on the meeting of Miranda and Ferdinand

Answer 9

“fair encounter of two most rare affections”

Question 10

Ferdinand on Class and Heirarchy

Answer 10

“I am in my condition A Prince” , self important

Question 11

Received context of class and hierarchy

Answer 11

Idea of the ‘Great Chain of being’, the ‘divine right to rule’ interesting that Ariel is a “sprite higher than them all (Lawrence Bowling) - Play filled with ‘infractions of the natural order’

Question 12

Kermode on Ferdinand

Answer 12

“Ferdinand is hardly a blazing anti type”

Question 13

Prospero’s controlling and somewhat sinister nature towards Miranda and parrallels to other plays

Answer 13

Parrallel to Egeus and Miranda “as she is mine I shall dispose of her”

Question 14

Kermode on Caliban

Answer 14

“sexually mature but culturally a child”, taught everything by Prospero and Miranda but not taught morals

Question 15

Michael Boyd performance

Answer 15

Interesting, in 2002, Post apocolyptic setting and Caliban especially vulnerable in a arctic environment being poorley clothed

Question 16

Sam Mendes

Answer 16

1993 production, Ariel when freed spits on Prospero, in contrast more romantic 19th century versions of the play focus on forgivness, this is arguably all reliant upon the directors portrayal of Prospero Ariel is the dominant force in the play, not Prospero

Question 17

Julie Taymar

Answer 17

Ariel as a CGI hologram

Question 18

Rupert Goold

Answer 18

Ariel clutches an hour glass and is obsessed with freedom

Question 19

In what way is Miranda imprisoned

Answer 19

Imprisoned by her knowledge, she has no freedom of thought and relies solely upon Prospero for all her infomation “a prince of power”

Question 20

Richard Burton

Answer 20

Played Caliban in 1951, especially masculine actor, considers Caliban a “useless member of society”

Question 21

Sarup Singh

Answer 21

“Prospero is both a father and a mother to her” however realistically their relationship is traditionally to the renaissance period “obey and be attentive”

Question 22

Incest accusations

Answer 22

“the thought might be there” Nutall

Question 23

Peter Hall

Answer 23

1988 Production, Caliban padlocked over his genitals

Question 24

What happens to Caliban at the end of the play?

Answer 24

Conflicting, in some performances he is locked in a cage, however in a 1904 production he is seen creeping out of a cave to continue to inhabit the island

Question 25

Prospero on forgiveness

Answer 25

“The rarer action is in virtue than in revenge”

2002 Michael Boyd Production Caliban is a serious character using the branch of a tree as a staff yet by the end of the play he mellows and is converted by hard earned forgivness

Question 26

Native claim of Caliban

Answer 26

“the islands mine by sycorax my mother” colonial usurpation parralleled in treachery to the usurpation of Prospero’s dukedom

Question 27

language

Answer 27

“you taught me language” this becomes the key power of the colonials

Question 28

Threats of Propero

Answer 28

“I’ll rack thee with cramps”

Question 29

Power of alcohol

Answer 29

“celestial liquor”

Question 30

Power of magic

Answer 30

Puts courtiers to sleep and encourages them to plot, it is no coincidence that Alonso and Sebastien are left awake, perhaps to see just how “perfidious” Antonio remains

Question 31

Mannoni

Answer 31

‘The Psychology of Colonisation’ Dependency complex and prospero complex’

Question 32

Power of Miranda and Ferdinand over each other

Answer 32

“they are in each others powers”

Question 33

Hebron

Answer 33

“Prospero is a magnus using his powers for the greater good and not for personal gain”

Question 34

Class and Power

Answer 34

Bowen “It is the Boatswaine who holds the power in this scene” “what care do these roarers have for the name of King”

Question 35

Iwasaki

Answer 35

“his magic is a symbol of his absolute power”

Question 36

Power of islam

Answer 36

Sycorax is from Algiers the home of the islamic corsairs, it lead to the so called ‘great fear’ of Europe, being over run by the muslim hordes joint invasion of Naples????

Question 37

Idea of the forgein “other”

Answer 37

fear of the “other” good received context