Dramaturg Notes on The Tempest
When Mr. Bob Kohler told me last year he was going to stage The Tempest, I immediately volunteered to serve as the dramaturg for the production. Lucky for me - he accepted. And the process of helping guide the actors through William Shakespeare’s last, and most-genre defying play, has been as much a revelation as a delight. The actors have learned of the play’s stage history, its foundation in early 17th-century travel narratives and conceptions of race, and its meta-commentary on the magic of theatre.
Set on an enchanted island somewhere in the Mediterranean, The Tempest centers on questions of boundaries and of journeys all underpinned by the age of discovery, which, more aptly, could be called the age of colonialism, oppression, and exploitation. Since the late 1960s, many productions of the play highlight Prospero’s forceful takeover of the island and his enslavement of Caliban and Ariel. That topic remains present in this production, but Mr. Kohler wanted an interpretation that conveyed the breadth of thematic elements of the play. In his The Tempest, we see budding young love, the wonderment of wizardry, sinister plots, the limits of control, oafish buffoons, and the spectacle of the stage.
As you watch these actors interpret The Bard, please know of their dedication to the performance, their willingness to take direction, and their desire to understand exactly what Shakespeare says. Near the end of the play Prospero says, “I want spirits to enforce; art to enchant;” we hope that you allow yourself to be bewitched by the story these young people will enact.
Mr. Mark Luce
Chair, Department of English
