I could think of a few really cool ways that I would set up the first Scene of Shakespeare's Tempest.
The Storm Begins:
Pitch Blackness would have to be the first thing, and we'd be using an indoor professional stage. No stage lights would appear at first; no little bits of light creeping in underneath the doors, etc, and somehow we would dismantle the emergency exit signs (hmm...): pure black. THEN, we turn on our handy leaf-blowers to imitate high winds sounds, and start the microphone-enhanced moaning and yelling of the crew-members aboard the ship we cannot see, Boatswain piping out commands a he does in the first part of the text.
Thunder would then be imitated intermittently by spilling large bags of potatoes from up on high landing backstage, from somewhere in the rafters (don't buy it? You don't even know, it is incredibly realistic).
"Mercy on us! We split, we split! Farewell my wife and children!" -- Boatswain, Act 1 scene I
Tempest-Tossed:
To make things even more dramatic, we would give the audience some visual spectacle. Using spotlights flashing in patterns on and off, we would imitate lightning. Coordinated with the lightning, we would stuff mound of blue chalk into our previously-rigged leaf blowers. The effect: ocean spray sailing across stage revealing only for a few seconds the boat rocking in the middle.
And the boat, now, that's another thing. It would be made from cheap lumber (this is no Broadway-budget production), nailed together lightly, and the crew members would (every time a lightning flash came on) "fall" and happen to break off a piece of the railing, deck, siding, etc. A few of course would fall off into the blue chalky mes below. The lights would illuminate columns of chalk, giving the appearance of a dense storm.
Let's think about characterization, too:
If I had more budget, and could make the characters as I envision them, they might look something like this:
So, these are some simple ways that I would stage and cast The Tempest, if I could summon such a production.
The Storm Begins:
Pitch Blackness would have to be the first thing, and we'd be using an indoor professional stage. No stage lights would appear at first; no little bits of light creeping in underneath the doors, etc, and somehow we would dismantle the emergency exit signs (hmm...): pure black. THEN, we turn on our handy leaf-blowers to imitate high winds sounds, and start the microphone-enhanced moaning and yelling of the crew-members aboard the ship we cannot see, Boatswain piping out commands a he does in the first part of the text.Thunder would then be imitated intermittently by spilling large bags of potatoes from up on high landing backstage, from somewhere in the rafters (don't buy it? You don't even know, it is incredibly realistic).
"Mercy on us! We split, we split! Farewell my wife and children!" -- Boatswain, Act 1 scene I
Tempest-Tossed:
To make things even more dramatic, we would give the audience some visual spectacle. Using spotlights flashing in patterns on and off, we would imitate lightning. Coordinated with the lightning, we would stuff mound of blue chalk into our previously-rigged leaf blowers. The effect: ocean spray sailing across stage revealing only for a few seconds the boat rocking in the middle.
And the boat, now, that's another thing. It would be made from cheap lumber (this is no Broadway-budget production), nailed together lightly, and the crew members would (every time a lightning flash came on) "fall" and happen to break off a piece of the railing, deck, siding, etc. A few of course would fall off into the blue chalky mes below. The lights would illuminate columns of chalk, giving the appearance of a dense storm.Now that's a tempest.
Let's think about characterization, too:
If I had more budget, and could make the characters as I envision them, they might look something like this:
Bal-rog, from the depths of the inferno = Caliban: Can you say Spawn of the Devil?
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Gandalf the Grey = Prospero: Reading books, casting spells, and subduing the evil in the world are what they both do best. Gandalf against the Bal-rog would certainly be the most exciting way to represent Prospero's conflict with Caliban.
Elvish woman (or man) = Ariel. Both live in the air (well, at least elves live here in a city in the trees), both love to sing songs and use fancy language, are sprite-like and able to perform magical tasks, serve as a help to saving the Wizard's neck (bringing spectacular elements into the production) and all the good stuff.
So, these are some simple ways that I would stage and cast The Tempest, if I could summon such a production.
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