The Plot of Shakespeare’s Original Play:The Tempest
The sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been exiled to an enchanted island,where they are served by Ariel,an airy spirit,and Caliban,the wicked offspring of an evil witch. Prospero brings up a tempest to shipwreck his enemies and scatters them around the island including Antonio,his evil brother who had him exiled in order to gain control of the dukedom of Milan,and Alonso,the King of Naples. Also washed on shore is Ferdinand,the king’s son,who immediately falls in love with Miranda.
Alonso the King,his brother Sebastian,and Antonio search the island for Ferdinand. As they do so,Antonio convinces Sebastian to murder Alonso and take the kingdom for himself. In a desolate part of the island,Caliban is discovered by Trinculo,a jester,and Stefano,a drunken butler. After tasting wine for the first time and then promising to serve the two forever,Caliban plots with Stefano to kill Prospero and become ruler of the island. Caliban uses Miranda as the ultimate prize to woo the would-be king.
Prospero uses his magic to enchant all the courtiers who wronged him,thus gaining his revenge. When Prospero discovers the drunkards plot,he uses magic to punish them as well. Ariel brings all the shipwrecked souls to Prospero’s cave,where he reveals himself and regains his dukedom. Prospero then abjures the use of magic forevermore and releases both Ariel and Caliban to freedom.
What We Did To It?
Tempest in a Teapot is an original Fools creation that is a post-modern deconstruction of Shakespeare’s original text. This show embraces the Wikipedia definition of post-modernism,rejecting “what are seen as the false,imposed unities of meta-narrative and hegemony;the breaking of traditional frames of genre,structure and stylistic unity;and the overthrowing of categories that are the result of logocentrism and other forms of artificially imposed order.”Or at least that’s what we wrote to impress the people on the funding committee.
What it really means is we have a central figure who attempts to steer a production of The Tempest while an unruly cast keeps questioning the text,stepping in and out of character,and breaking into song.
The play teases its actors and audiences alike with the cultural and historical differences between our world and that of the playwright,all the while sailing full steam ahead into the choppy waters of Shakespeare’s more problematic themes and ideas around race and religion. Canada’s own colonial history as a part of the British Commonwealth is pulled out of the cupboard,and our home and native land does not get away from the Fools’tongue-in-cheek criticism untarnished.
In short,from week to week audiences can expect to see song and dance numbers on abstinence and Shakespeare’s sexuality,not-so-special special effects and watch AL Connors do things with logs that just aren’t normal. Now that’s entertainment!
Written by the company and set to original music,Tempest in a Teapot takes you on a journey into the eye of the storm with trademark physicality and wit as The Fools explore the boundaries of what you can and cannot do with Shakespeare (what else would you expect from a bunch of Fools?).
