The Tempest (Commonwealth Shakespeare)

[lauradi7dw]

They aren't doing free ("but give us money") performances on the Common, but they already had a cast and the world has Zoom and Youtube. From Thursday through tomorrow (Monday the 10th), it's available to watch. It was live on Thursday, but we waited until yesterday for the ASL part to go online. The interpreters took up as much of the screen as the speaking actors. The claim is that it was "script in hand," but we didn't see any scripts on the screen, and it was definitely not a table read - people were really performing, and there were even a few costume changes of a sort, which in this case meant adding headgear, mostly. Also a little bit of playing with the laptop camera. I think it's the best production of it I've seen, and since we were home, we could look things up.
me: Did he say "Shake it off?"
Arthur: I think so
Shakespeare: Yes. Act 1 Scene 2
>>MIRANDA
The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO
Shake it off. Come on;<<

Plain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmtiNnQrTw0
With ASL interpreters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZbgirDtGuw
With descriptive audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeJsatwdj1w

The first performance I ever saw of The Tempest was "Prospero's Books" (1991), which I really didn't like. John Geilgud was said to have enjoyed making it, though. I'm glad he had fun.

Comments

[sovay]

The first performance I ever saw of The Tempest was "Prospero's Books" (1991), which I really didn't like.

I don't think Prospero's Books was my first performed version of The Tempest, but then I don't know what was. There's a production described in Inez Haynes Irwin's Maida's Little Theater (1946).

[bitterlawngnome]

PB is maybe my favourite piece of art ever. But I don't know if I'd classify it as Shakespeare or even as The Tempest.