Hi Everyone,
I hope you enjoyed this afternoon’s staged reading of The Tempest. Building on what Professor Kolb asked when she introduced the play, please share (in a comment on this post) one specific moment or element in the performance that surprised you, confused you, or made a strong impression on you.
Don’t forget that your Personal Response Essays are due on Friday, March 15th. You can submit your essay by sharing it with [email protected] as a Google Doc or by emailing it to me at [email protected]. Email me if you have any questions about this.
Looking forward to reading your essays and to seeing you in class on Monday. We will be discussing Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”.
Take care,
Professor Sylvor
During The Tempest, I didn’t know much or understand what it was about, but it was entertaining. I didn’t expect to laugh so much, even though I couldn’t follow the plot. I understood that the characters were shipwrecked on an Island, and there was some kind of spell put on some of them. I think overall the cast did a great job of putting together the reading and making it entertaining.
I’m glad to have read a summary of the play beforehand because there was a lot going on in the play. I was surprised as to why Prospero would want Miranda to be with Ferdinand, even though he holds a great grudge against Ferdinand’s father, the king. And speaking of grudges, I was confused when Prospero forgave the king and his brother so easily and out of nowhere. There was no prior conversation nor did they ask for forgiveness.
I’m glad both Ariel and Caliban, especially, got their freedom at the end. Caliban’s actor made some great remarks at the end about slavery and connecting with Caliban’s situation. Overall, it was an enjoyable play to watch. I especially loved Ariel’s singing.
Hi Lola,
I agree with you. It was a great idea to read a summary before the play as it wasn’t that simple to keep up with what was going on in the play.
I also was kind of confused sometimes during the play and wondered what was happening from time to time.
Even though there was a lot of confusion going on, I also enjoyed the play and I laughed more than I expected.
It was interesting to see the Tempest presented to me in this way. I actually had to act out the play in high school, so in a way it was very refreshing but also confusing. The only reason I say that is I feel like whenever I went over Shakespeare in High School, it was always interpreted differently on the feelings/emotions that certain scenes portrayed. Considering certain parts were cut out of the production as well, it wasn’t necessarily hard to keep up with what was going, but hard to remember where we were in the overall story. With all of this being said though, I was still glad to see how each individual actor/actress portrayed their characters; I felt like the characters I knew were getting a fresh introduction in my mind compared to what I already knew/ when I saw them before acted out before.
I would say throughout The Tempest I was a little lost because to me it seemed they were jumping from one scene to another quickly but one thing that left a strong impression on me was the performance itself that was displayed by the actors i really enjoyed how each actor played multiple actors and I also enjoyed that one of the actors was versatile enough to play an instrument and sing which brung a better sense of immersion.
It was the first time I saw an interpretation like this in the theater, and to be honest I liked it much more than I expected. I think the actors were very good at not letting the audience get bored and also involving them in certain moments. The Tempest doesn’t have a very simple plot and luckily the summary and videos helped me not get completely lost during the show. Despite this, I still got lost during the show due to a very intertwined plot, but truly a great experience
I think during my time of watching this play, It had a lot of scenes where everything was overwhelming in a sense. There was a lot going on in which one scene could be very romantic and peaceful and the next season could be total chaos. I was very impressed with the actors in the way they emphasized themselves emotionally, and it really made me feel like i was even apart of the setting. The play was still very confusing, but I think there were many humorous scenes which made the overall play fun to watch.