After The Tempest

A depiction from Nicholas Rowe's
1709 edition of Shakespeare's plays
of the stage direction
of the opening of the 1674 adaptation

April 13, 2019

 After hearing that Rebecca and her two boys went to The Tempest, I was so happy. Just acknowledging all of the joy of seeing that performance and to know that someone else understands that it feels so good.  Or that it feels so bad, depending on one's love of this kind of theatre.

I did not know how I was going to describe Ariel’s costume to Michael. I was going to tell him that a sprite had been embodied in an pine cone, and so what he was wearing looked like the upturned outer plates or scales of an . His hair was swept back and tiny branch-like veins started in his eye brows and went diagonally back off the forehead into a mass of hair that looked like decaying material of the forest. At time I thought he was stealing the show – at least for me.

I had stayed up until midnight reading both “famous quotes from The Tempest” as well as everything that wiki had to say about it, which was a lot. Famous quotes can slow me down for they are just a few words and not in context so I was using my brain late at night. I thought I was going to have to graph out the plot, but as soon as I could think of these people all in different groups, I didn’t have to go to pen and paper.

As a seamstress I was taking great interest in Propspero’s (Martha Henry’s) cloak. And then when Propero’s other costumes were taken out of her dwelling and put on a line, I was laughing as were the people in the live audience. Such beautiful pieces but when worn on those buffoons, the clothes caused a lot of laughter.

As for the music, Wiki says “two settings of songs from The Tempest have survived … `Where The Bee Sucks There Suck I’ and `Full Fathom Five’.” The good thing about staying up late the night before the performance and filling my mind with more than it can contain is that at odd moments, out comes something I learned and I can feel giggles rattling up and down my spine.

Oh, I was a little disappointed that Miranda wasn't bare-foot, but the clothing of the fairies who came to visit made up for that little disappointment.

I loved the wind the sails during the opening tempest scene.  And I didn't get enough of Caliban.  What wonderful scaley make-up on him!  And his body -- magically acrobatic.

I stayed for a double feature. That is, I went back to the box office and bought a ticket for The Stallion. A lovely movie. I was thinking that Naomi might like it and then I thought maybe the Carter-Johnson guys would like it, though it has a different pace and mood.  Not an action film. The photography is spectacular.

Arta