The Tempest (Shakespeare in Production) - Hardcover

Shakespeare, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521444071 ISBN 13: 9780521444071

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2000

Synopsis

This edition of The Tempest is the first dedicated to its stage history. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, it examines four centuries of mainstream, regional, and fringe productions in Britain (including Dryden and Davenant's Restoration adaptation), nineteenth- and twentieth-century American stagings, and recent Australian, Canadian, French, Italian, and Japanese productions. In a substantial, illustrated Introduction Dymkowski analyses the cultural significance of changes in the play's theatrical representation, for example, when and why Caliban began to be represented by a black actor, and Ariel became a man's role rather than a woman's. The commentary annotates each line of the play with details about acting, setting, textual alteration and cuts, and contemporary reception. With extensive quotation from contemporary commentators and detail from unpublished promptbooks, the edition offers both an accessible account of the play's changing meanings and a valuable resource for further research.

About this title

Review:

One of Shakespeare's most famous but also enigmatic plays, for many years the story of Prospero's exile from his native Milan, and life with his daughter Miranda on an unnamed island in the Mediterranean, was seen as an autobiographical dramatisation of Shakespeare's departure from the London stage. The Epilogue, spoken by Prospero, claims that "now my charms are all o'erthrown", appeared to reflect Shakespeare's own renunciation of his magical dramatic powers as he retired to Stratford. But The Tempest is far more than this, as recent commentators have pointed out. The dramatic action observes the classical unities of time, place and action, as Prospero uses his "rough magic" to lure his wicked usurping brother, Antonio, and King Alonso of Naples to his island retreat to torment them before engineering his return to Milan.

However, the play is full of extraordinary anomalies and fantastic interludes, including Gonzalo's fantasy of a utopian commonwealth, Prospero's magical servant Ariel, and the "poisonous slave" Caliban. The creation of Caliban has particularly fascinated critics, who have noticed in his creation a colonial dimension to the play. In this respect Caliban can be seen as an American Indian or African slave, who articulates a particularly powerful strain of anti-colonial sentiment, telling Prospero that "this island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,/ Which thou tak'st from me". This has led to an intense reassessment of the play from a post-colonial perspective, as critics and historians have debated the extent to which the play endorses or criticises early English colonial expansion. --Jerry Brotton

Review:

'I cannot imagine anyone who either intends to stage The Tempest or to write about it from a performance-oriented point of view who would not profit from consulting this text.' Shakespeare Quarterly

'A valuable tool for readers of Shakespeare as well as stage practitioners and playgoers. Highly recommended for all collections.' Choice

'Few titles can lay claim to the encyclopaedic range and comprehensiveness exhibited by the CUP's Shakespeare in Production series.' Contemporary Theatre Review

'I cannot recommend too highly the whole series (a bargain at £16.99 for each play) to all theatre lovers, theatregoers, theatre practitioners, and anybody who enjoys Shakespeare.' Robert Tanitch, What's on in London

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0521444071
• ISBN 13: 9780521444071
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 408
• Editor: Dymkowski Christine