Education Resource Pack
created by Helen Cadbury
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
Introduction
CONTENTS
2
The Production
About Tara Arts
Synopsis
Director’s Vision
Design
The Cast and Creative Team
3
4
5
6
7
Shakespeare’s Play
Prospero
Miranda
Caliban
Ariel
The Tempest as Theatre
Shakespeare’s Life and Work
8
9
10
11
12
13
Follow Up Activities
14
Writing About The Performance
15
Further Resources
16
Feedback Form
17
Antonio and Sebastian
Photo: Talula Sheppard
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
1
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
INTRODUCTION
An act of terror, a treacherous brother, a tormented slave, an innocent
daughter … Shakespeare’s powerful last play is a miraculous story of
confinement and freedom.
Exiled on a “desolate isle”, Prospero manipulates loved ones, servants
and enemies alike as he obsessively plots revenge to return home.
This Education Resource Pack provides a unique insight into this
production to enable pupil and student audiences to gain a deeper
understanding of the play.
Please let us know if you have found this pack useful by filling in the
feedback form on the last page of the pack.
Helen Cadbury
Tara Arts 2007
Prospero ponders his future
photo: Talula Sheppard
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
2
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
ABOUT TARA ARTS
30 Years of Connecting Cultures
Tara’s three decades of making cross-cultural theatre began on 25th August 1977,
with an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s anti-war play, Sacrifice. This was
chosen in part as a response to the death of Gurdip Singh Chaggar, a 17-year old
Sikh boy living in Southall, who fell victim to a racist murder.
No passports: poised between East & West, Tara's theatricality is a Binglish
evocation of modern diversity, proclaiming with wit and verve No passports
for the stories we tell
No passports
for the artists we work with
No passports
for our audiences
The creative health of modern diverse humanity demands no passports. The
company tours vibrant adaptations of European and Asian classics, develops new
writing and brings the great stories of the world to children in junior schools.
Tara's distinctive Binglish style of theatre has resulted in co-productions with the
National Theatre of Tartuffe (1990), The Little Clay Cart (1991) and Cyrano (1995).
It has also staged an epic trilogy of plays on modern migration - Journey to the West
(2002).
Based in South London, TARA has toured the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Belgium,
Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, as well as England,
Scotland and Wales.
“Tara’s work is a terrific synthesis of east and west.”
Sir Richard Eyre
“Tara has had an extraordinary journey from passionate
student work inspired initially by a racist murder in
Southall to its present settled position firmly embedded in
the British national theatre scene. In the process they
interrogated themselves and challenged the theatre
sector and both have been changed in the process. They
have brought another sensibility onto the scene, stretched
British cultural life and helped to make those of us with
different origins visible to both ourselves and others. May
their next 30 years be as illuminating.” Naseem Khan, OBE
Tara’s artistic director, Jatinder Verma
with Colin Firth at the company’s 30th
birthday celebrations
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
3
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
SYNOPSIS
The Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded
for twelve years on an island, after Prospero's jealous brother Antonio—helped by
Alonso, the King of Naples—deposed him and set him adrift with the three-year-old
Miranda.
Prospero is reluctantly served by a spirit, Ariel whom he had rescued from
imprisonment. Ariel was trapped in a tree by the witch Sycorax, who had died prior
to Prospero's arrival, leaving a son, Caliban. Prospero maintains Ariel's loyalty by
repeatedly promising to release the "airy spirit" from servitude, but continually
defers that promise to a future date, namely at the end of the play. Caliban,
meanwhile, was initially adopted and raised by Prospero as a son. He in turn taught
Prospero how to survive on the island, while Prospero taught Caliban his own
language. Following Caliban's attempted molesting of Miranda, he had been forced
into slavery, carrying wood and gathering pig nuts. Caliban feels that his trust has
been betrayed. Prospero and Miranda in turn view Caliban with contempt and
disgust.
The play opens as Prospero, having divined that his brother, Antonio, is on a ship
passing close by the island (having returned from the wedding of Alonso's daughter
Claribel to the King of Tunis), has raised a storm which causes the ship to run
aground. Also on the ship are Antonio's friend and fellow conspirator, King Alonso,
Alonso's brother Sebastian, and Alonso's royal advisor Gonzalo. Prospero, with Ariel’s
help, contrives to separate the survivors of the wreck into several groups and Alonso
and Ferdinand are separated, and believe one another dead.
Three plots then alternate through the play. In one, Caliban falls in love with
Stephano and Trinculo, two drunken crew members, whom he believes to have
come from the moon, and drunkenly attempts to raise a rebellion against Prospero.
In another, Prospero works to establish a romantic relationship between Ferdinand
and Miranda; the two fall immediately in love, but Prospero worries that "too light
winning [may] make the prize light" and so compels Ferdinand to become his
servant, in order to test the depth of Ferdinand’s affection for Miranda. He also
decides that after his plan to exact vengeance on his betrayers has come to fruition,
he will break and bury his staff, and "drown" his book of magic. In the third subplot,
Antonio and Sebastian conspire to kill Alonso and his advisor Gonzalo, so that
Sebastian can become King. They are thwarted by Ariel, at Prospero's command.
Ariel appears to the three "men of sin" as a harpy, reprimanding them for their
betrayal of Prospero. Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio are deeply affected. Prospero
manipulates the course of his enemies' path through the island, drawing them closer
and closer to him. In the conclusion, all the main characters are brought together
before Prospero, who forgives Alonso (as well as his own brother's betrayal, and
warns Antonio and Sebastian about further attempts at betrayal) and finally uses his
magic to ensure that everyone returns to Italy.
Ariel (as his final task for Prospero) is charged to prepare the proper sailing weather
to guide Alonso and his entourage back to the Royal fleet and then to Naples. Ariel
is set free to the elements. Prospero pardons Caliban. In his epilogue, Prospero
invites the audience to set him free from the island by their applause.
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
4
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
DIRECTOR’S VISION
Jatinder Verma
On the island everyone is confined. Caliban and Ariel are enslaved and the
ship’s passengers are held there by magic. Prospero, trapped in bitter exile,
controls his kingdom with knowledge of the dark arts, while Ariel, like the
djinn trapped in Al-Addin’s magic lamp, does his master’s bidding but
reminds him of his fallibility. Even his own daughter is manipulated by
Prospero’s sorcery. She has been hidden away on the island since she was
three years old and will only be revealed to the man of her father’s
choosing. A veiled Miranda emphasises the way in which Prospero has kept
her covered up and hidden from the world.
The Tempest is a fable and it is in the re-telling of fables that we begin to
understand our present times. Prospero is a person who turns his knowledge
to darker ends because he is obsessed with vengeance. His prototype is
Marlowe’s Dr Faustus, but in our own age there are many like Faustus and
Prospero - intelligent men and women who will create and support terrible
ends to revenge perceived hurt. He calls to mind the figure of Ayman alZawahiri, Bin Laden’s right-hand man, a learned doctor confined in some
cave in the desolate border between north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan,
plotting vengeance on the West to recover the purity of his homeland, Egypt.
But there is always the possibility of recantation and human empathy. I am
reminded of another figure, another doctor who was once al-Zawahiri’s close
associate - Said Imam al-Sharif has spent his time in an Egyptian prison. Once
a prominent Jihadist militant, he has recanted terror as a means to
salvation. In Prospero’s case it is the spirit world which offers a glimpse into
what it means to be human. Ariel suggests her affections would become
tender:
Ariel : ...sir, were I human
Prospero:... And mine shall...The rarer action is in virtue than in
vengeance.
Perhaps the “magic” of The Tempest lies in its humane exploration of the
most inhuman experiences. For me, it offers a profound comment and hope
for today.
Jatinder Verma, 2007
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
5
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
DESIGN
Claudia Mayer
At this stage in the design process, we are looking at
a general Moorish world – Muslim Mediterranean and
Middle Eastern – as far as Oman and Yemen – a world
of nomads and settlers, corresponding perhaps to
our world of migration, where Caliban is a settler,
while Prospero and the rest remain migrants, on the
move.
Meanwhile it is a world of fading power,
dreams and sleep, illusion, time passing and
the urgency of action in the face of mortality.
There is the constant theme of imprisonment, there is no exit before time,
and if things go wrong all of them may be caught forever. The pendulum and
the remorseless forward rush of time remain strong themes.
We are thinking about the
set as a wooden corner and a
wooden floor where 6 ropes
hang like a cage in the space
–echoes of slave ships and
ropes that hang and bind imprisonment and death.
But in among these dark themes, of course, there are also
moments of light and humour.
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
6
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
THE CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
CHRIS JACK
Ferdinand/Sebastian
TOM KANJI
Antonio/ Stephano
CAROLINE KILPATRICK
Ariel
Photo: John Nichols
Photo: Ric Bacon
Photo: Ric Bacon
JESSICA MANLEY
Miranda/ Alonso
ROBERT MOUNTFORD
Prospero/ Trinculo
KEITH THORNE
Caliban/ Gonzalo
Photo: Ben King
Photo: Dave Cullen
Photo: Charlie Carter
Director
Design
LX Design
Jatinder Verma
Claudia Mayer
Jvan Morandi
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
7
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
CHARACTER PROFILE
Who is Prospero?
A Duke who has lost his kingdom
Prospero literally means “according to one’s hopes” or “fortunate”. Prospero, exiled by his
jealous brother to whom he misguidedly handed over his duties, appears to be in a very
unfortunate position trapped on the island, but by his use of magic, he directs events to
exact his revenge. He has had his rightful power taken from him, but the magic makes him
the most powerful man on the island.
A father
The shipwreck is not just an instrument of revenge; it enables Prospero to arrange a highly
suitable marriage for his daughter, to Ferdinand, Prince of Naples. He has nurtured and
educated Miranda for a life back in the world of the Court, she plays chess and argues with
intelligence. As a foster father he includes Caliban in the family, they had originally shared
the cell and Miranda and Prospero had taught Caliban their language, but at some point,
presumably when Miranda reached puberty, Caliban has made an advance on her. From then
on he is treated brutally. Prospero’s protection of his daughter’s honour is admirable but it
is also essential if his family is to regain its rightful social position. As she has reached
maturity, he must keep her pure for her arranged marriage and cannot risk a mixed union
with Caliban. The fear of Caliban’s physical difference and the threat he poses to Prospero
himself as another man on the island, also present a troubling and dysfunctional father/son
relationship. As a foster father, Prospero is cruel but in the end leaves Caliban with the
legacy of the island and gives him back what was rightfully his.
A slave- owner
In justifying his enslavement of Caliban, by claiming that he is less than human, Prospero
pre-figures the legal argument for American slavery (the American Constitution of 1787
defined a Negro as only 3/5ths of a human being).
A magus or magician
He is often compared to Faustus, and Marlowe’s play would have been well known to
Shakespeare. In it a learned Doctor pursues a study of dark magic which leads him to make a
pact with the devil. When he renounces magic he cries “I’ll burn my books” which Prospero
echoes with “I’ll drown my books!” The main difference between them is that Prospero
professes to practise only natural magic and not the dark magic of the occult and demons.
In Shakespeare’s time, the world of spirits was believed to be a world parallel with our own.
Magic was an exploration and manipulation of what was hidden and it was used to account
for all manner of unexplained natural phenomena. Its study was closely allied to science and
philosophy – the word comes from the ancient Persian word “magia” which means wisdom.
Shakespeare would have been acquainted with John Dee, a magician, scientist and personal
astrologer to Elizabeth I. He consulted his magic books and believed he had control over
spirits; his ambition was to gain power over the whole world, including the spirit world. He
may have been the origin of Prospero’s character but other influences would have included
King James I, who was fascinated by magic and Thomas Harriott, a philosopher and scientist
who had travelled to Virginia.
An exile
Prospero is a survivor. He calls to mind the many thousands of people who risk their lives
every year to escape oppression and poverty in “the rotten carcass of a boat” or an airless
lorry. He arrives with nothing except his books and his knowledge and lives on his wits to
survive and to try to get back home. Like many dissidents, he is also determined to change
the political landscape of the home he wishes to go back to.
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
8
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
CHARACTER PROFILE
Who Is Caliban?
A Settler
Caliban’s mother, the witch Sycorax, was an exile like Prospero. She was banished from
Algiers and arrived on the island pregnant. Caliban was born and is settled here, his mother
has died. He has learned about the island’s natural bounty and would have liked to have
“peopled…this isle with Calibans” if Prospero had not caught him trying to rape Miranda. His
natural element is the earth.
A Savage
Some commentators have noted that Caliban is almost an anagram of cannibal. As the New
World was beginning to open up to Europeans, their discoveries of new tribes engendered a
fear and fascination of the unknown. When Trinculo comes across Caliban, he wishes he
were in England where people would pay good money “to see a dead Indian.” The practice
of displaying the mummified bodies of tribal people began as an entertainment attraction
but continued well into the late twentieth century as standard museum practice. Caliban is
also a savage in the sense that he has lived without parents, fending for himself on the
island; the ultimate feral child. Calibaun is also a Roma gypsy word for black.
A Slave
The Tempest is often regarded as a comment on colonialism. The huge colonies of the
British Empire were at their earliest stages of exploration when it was written. Shakespeare
would have read the accounts of the settlers in Virginia who in 1610 nearly perished, but for
the assistance of the local Indians who showed them where to fish and how to cultivate local
plants such as maize. Like Caliban, they soon regretted the welcome they gave to those who
became their oppressors. Meanwhile the trans- Atlantic slave trade was in its infancy, the
first African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619, three years after Shakespeare’s death, but the
enslavement of both indigenous people and Africans in South America and the Caribbean had
already begun.
A Young Man with a Disability
Caliban is described as having a physical disability and facial disfigurement. The deeply
ingrained associations between disability and evil are present in Shakespeare’s text. The
word “mooncalf” was used to describe the aborted foetus of a cow and occasionally a
human, and came from the belief that deformities were caused by the sinister influence of
the moon on the developing foetus. Caliban himself lifts his character out of the negative
stereotype both by the defence of his individuality and the nobility of the language with
which he describes the Island.
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
-Act 3, Scene 2
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
9
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
CHARACTER PROFILE
Who Is Miranda?
An innocent
Miranda knows nothing of the world beyond the island and is fascinated by
the novelty of Ferdinand and later the “brave new world” that is peopled by
human men. She is unaware of her own beauty, having nothing to compare
herself with and is “guileless” in the art of flirting. Her attraction to
Ferdinand is natural and unsophisticated.
An Intellectual
Prospero has educated his daughter and she in turn has taught Caliban. She is
revealed to the King and nobles playing chess with Ferdinand. This has been
carefully planned by Prospero, to show her prospective father-in-law that
she will be an intellectually equal partner to Ferdinand.
A Strong Minded Young Woman
Miranda is not a passive romantic figure and she shows her determination
when she tells Ferdinand, “I’ll be your servant, whether you will or no.”
Beneath the Veil
In our production Miranda is covered in accordance with the custom of the
Muslim countries in which our production is set. Head covering and veiling of
women existed in Jewish and Christian culture before the beginning of Islam:
St. Paul saw the covering of a woman’s hair as an important symbol of men’s
authority over women. In the Qu’ran, the injunction to cover one’s hair is to
ensure that both men and women should behave with modesty and that
women are protected:
O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters and the believing women that they should
cast their outer garments over their bodies (when abroad) so that they should be
known and not molested
Qu’ran 33:59
A Daughter
Like many fairy tale daughters, she is without a
mother and intensely loyal to her father.
Do not smile at me that I boast her off,
For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise
And make it halt behind her.
Prospero Act IV Sci
Miranda photo: Talula Sheppard
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
10
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
CHARACTER PROFILE
Who is Ariel?
A Djinn
Aladdin (an adaptation of the Arabic ‫ نيدلا ءالع‬Alā' ad-Dīn) is able to
summon the djinni (from where we get the English word genie) from his
magic lamp. Like Ariel, the djinni has been promised freedom when he has
done Aladdin’s bidding. The Djinn existed in Arabic folklore before Islam and
were spirits of “smokeless fire” – their name probably comes from the word
junna, meaning angry or possessed. We also get the word genius from the
word “djinn” and Ariel’s intelligence is paramount in his relationship with
Prospero.
An Air Spirit
Ariel’s name suggests that his element is air, but this not a soft and wispy
breeze, rather the wind of storms and typhoons. Shakespeare gives him the
name Ariel because he can fly, while all the other characters are earth
bound.
A man or a woman?
In the original text Ariel is male but as Shakespeare’s original actors were all
men, cross-gender casting in a contemporary production calls attention to
the fact that Ariel is not human and is capable of changing shape at any
time, so is not bound to one gender body or another.
A Spirit with Free Will
Although Ariel is obedient to Prospero, he has asserted his free will under
the servitude of the witch Sycorax and refused to follow her “abhorred
commands”. Unfortunately this has landed him in the trunk of a pine tree for
twelve years, trapped and crying out in pain. His service to Prospero is not
like the slavery of Caliban and he is able to nudge Prospero’s conscience
when his revenge has gone far enough.
A Stage Manager
Prospero’s controlling hand is often regarded as the allegorical hand of the
playwright or the director. In this analogy, Ariel becomes the stage
manager, doing his bidding to create the spectacular visual effects of St.
Elmo’s Fire dancing in the rigging or the banquet laid out before the
shipwrecked nobles.
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
11
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
THE TEMPEST AS THEATRE
Commedia
The Tempest fits very well into the pattern of a Commedia Dell’Arte play,
which often featured a Magus and his daughter. Commedia Dell’Arte
all’Improviso - meaning the improvised comedy of the art, or the profession originated in Italy as early as 1300 and flourished in 16th and 17th century
Europe. The plays were performed by professional, travelling troupes, using
improvised dialogue and variations on basic plots told by stock characters.
Stephano and Trinculo are typical of the stock comic characters Arlecchino
and Brighella. The slapstick comedy business of Caliban and Trinculo hiding
under the cloth is typical of the physicality of Commedia performances.
Caliban corresponds with Pulcinella, a lecherous hunchback, while Miranda
and Prospero could easily be the clever, beautiful Isabella and her rich and
scheming father, Pantelone, always on the look out for the most
advantageous marriage prospects for his daughter.
Theatre Magic
Like many of Shakespeare’s plays, The Tempest comments on the nature of
theatre itself. Prospero plays director, with Ariel as his stage manager; his
players are the puppets manipulated by his powers of sorcery. The
Elizabethan magician John Dee was also interested in the magic of the
theatre and as a young man he created a flying machine for a play at Trinity
College Cambridge. Although it was simply a feat of engineering, its ability
to carry a man onto the roof cemented his reputation for dabbling in the
‘black arts’. As Prospero explains below, the real magic of theatre is the
unique blend of the physical and the metaphysical of our imaginations.
Our revels now are ended. These are actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn terraces, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rock behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
Act IV Sci
At the end of the play Prospero reminds us that his fictional self is trapped in
the story and can only be released by the applause of the audience, just as
he frees Ariel and Al-Addin frees his djinn, we clap our hands and let him go.
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
12
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
SHAKESPEARE’S LIFE AND WORK
Year
Shakespeare’s Life
1564
Shakespeare Born
1582
Shakespeare Married
1583
Birth of daughter Susanna
The Queen's Company formed in
London
Birth of twins, Judith and Hamnet
Departure from Stratford
Establishment in London as an
actor/playwright
1585
1587(?)-1592
1593
1594
1597-1599
Founding member of the Lord
Chamberlain's Men
Prosperity and recognition as the
leading London playwright
1596 Hamnet Shakespeare dies
aged 11
Purchases New Place, Stratford.
1600-1608
1599 The Globe Theater built on
Bankside. Shakespeare is a
shareholder and receives about 10%
of the profits
1601 Shakespeare's father dies
1594-1596
1603 The Lord Chamberlain's Men,
now The King's Men,
perform at court more than any
other company
1608 Shakespeare's mother dies
1609-1611
1623
1609 Publication of the Sonnets
April 23, 1616 Shakespeare dies and
is buried at Holy trinity Church,
Stratford
Works
Key Events
Christopher Marlowe born
John Hawkins second
voyage to New World
Hakluyt's Dievers Voyages
Touching the Discovery of
America
The Comedy of Errors
Titus Andronicus
The Taming of the Shrew
Henry VI, 1,2,3
Richard III
Venus and Adonis
Begins writing the Sonnets,
probably completed by
c.1597 or earlier
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Love's Labour's Lost
The Rape of Lucrece
1588 Defeat of the Armada
1588 Marlowe's Dr. Faustus
Midsummer Night's Dream
Romeo and Juliet
Richard II
Merchant of Venice
Henry IV,1,2
The Merry Wives of Windsor
As You Like It
Much Ado About Nothing
Henry V
Julius Caesar
1595 Sir Walter Raleigh
explores the Orinoco
Twelfth Night
Hamlet
Troilus & Cressida
Alls Well That Ends Well
Measure for Measure
Othello
King Lear
Macbeth
Antony and Clepatra
Coriolanus
Timon of Athens
1603 Elizabeth dies, James
VI of Scotland becomes
James I of England
1603 Sir Walter Raleigh
arrested, tried and
imprisoned
1603 The plague once again
ravages London
1605 The Gunpowder Plot Guy Fawkes and
accomplices arrested
1607 The founding of
Jamestown, Virginia, first
permanent English
settlement in America
1609 The Sea Venture
shipwrecked off the
Bermudas on the way to
Virginia
Pericles Prince of Tyre
Cymbeline
The Winter's Tale
The Tempest
1593 Marlowe dies
1593-94 Theatres closed by
plague
1597 Bacon's Essays, Civil
and Moral
1598 John Florio's A World
of Words (English-Italian
dictionary)
1610 Prince Henry created
Prince of Wales
Ben Jonson The Alchemist
1623 Publication of
Shakespeare's First Folio
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
13
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
FOLLOW UP ACTIVITIES
An Ideal Society
In Act ii Scene i Gonzalo describes his ideal society where:
All things in common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavour: treason felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
Would I not have: but nature should bring forth,
Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.
In small groups discuss how you could make Gonzalo’s dream come true.
What would your ideal society be like? Write a short piece to describe it.
The Isle is Full of Noises
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not,
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears: and sometimes voices…
Create a soundscape of Prospero’s magical island.
If you have access to a keyboard and recording equipment, create a
soundtrack for the scene where Stephano and Trinculo are afraid of Ariel’s
music. If you are going for a ‘low-tech’ approach, gather up items which will
create sound, for example, glass bottles to blow across, elastic bands, rainsticks made from cardboard tubing and filled with dry lentils. Include the
voice, humming and non-vocal sounds to create an inhuman, eerie effect.
Design Your Own Goddesses
In the Masque the Spirits appear as three Goddesses, Ceres, goddess of the
fertile earth, Juno, queen of the heavens and Iris, messenger of the gods. In
our production we have explored the goddesses of pre-Muslim Arabia, alUzza, al-Laat and al-Mannat. If you were to set The Tempest in your
contemporary world or your own community, what would the three
goddesses look like? Could you build puppet sized goddesses using found
objects?
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
14
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
WRITING ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
Why does a director make certain choices? How do the lighting, costume and set help to
tell the story? Watch carefully and write notes after the play.
These questions will help you:
THE STAGE
Q
: What can you see on the stage?
COSTUME
Q
Q
: What colours and styles are being used?
: What else do the costumes tell us about the characters?
LIGHTING
Q
Q
Q
: What colours and shades of colour are being used?
: What levels of brightness are being used and why?
: When do the lights change?
THE PERFORMERS
Q
: In this production of The Tempest, the actors double up their parts (see the CAST page)
When you watch the play, why do you think the director chose to pair the characters in this
particular way? Remember there are both practical and thematic reasons.
Q
: How do actors vary their movement, gesture, facial expression to show they are
playing different roles?
Q
Q
: How do the actors use the set?
: How do the actors relate to the audience?
AND LASTLY BUT MOST IMORTANTLY
Q
: What does the play make you think, feel, want to talk about?
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
15
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
FURTHER RESOURCES
Weblinks
http://www.tara-arts.com
(includes news and information about the company
and our current shows, archive information about previous shows and a
downloadable version of this pack and packs from previous shows)
The following websites provide useful information but please note: Tara Arts is not
responsible for their content or availability.
http://teachit.co.uk has several lesson plans and schemes of work for teaching The
Tempest in the English curriculum
http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk Teacher’s Guide to the Tempest including
detailed synopsis and imaginative preparation activities.
Books
The Tempest by William Shakespeare, various editions.
Films
Shakespeare – The Animated Tales (1992) British- Russian co-production, excellent
animation and accessible telling of the stories. Available from the National Theatre
Bookshop and various online retailers.
Prospero’s Books Peter Greenaway (1991) starring john Gielgud, adaptation of The
Tempest, best viewed after seeing or reading the play.
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
16
THE TEMPEST
Education Resource Pack
FEEDBACK FORM
If you have found this pack useful as an introduction to the production,
please take a moment to give us your feedback.
What course are your students studying (level/examining body?)
Which sections did you use with your students before seeing the play?
Which sections did you use with your students after seeing the play?
Was the level of this pack appropriate for your students?
Is there any other information you would have liked to enhance your
students’ experience of seeing this production?
Any other comments?
Please return TARA ARTS at the address below
TARA ARTS 356 Garratt Lane London SW18 4ES
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 8333 4457 Fax: + (0) 20 8870 9540 www.tara-arts.com
17