How do the props and set in our play communicate to a contemporary audience?

In our version of the Tempest we have a wooden blue wave and the back of the stage, an exercise bike and a bath tub centre stage. There is also a supermarket trolley which is used to wheel Caliban around when he meets Trinculo.

The exercise bike is used by Caliban to power the entire island. It is used as a way of showing a kind of modern day slavery which she has to undergo. It helps to develop the character of Caliban as the actor gets physically tired and begins to show a more honest representation of how Caliban would be feeling. This in turn helps the audience to understand the relationship dynamics between Caliban  Miranda and Prospero.

The bath is used as a way of playing with water and as a shelter or kneeling place for actors. It is used near the beginning by Ariel and Prospero to demonstrate how the storm worked and what happened, like a reenactment. This makes the idea very clear that Ariel and Prospero have power over elements in and around the island.

The wave keeps the audience reminded that we are on an Island. It is mainly used by the islanders as a watch point or as a resting space. Prospero is often sat up there observing the island, totally invisible, as do the ariels. It helps to create the different worlds. The islanders being these mystical beings and the kings men under their control. This is most helpful when the spirits are supposed to be invisible to the other characters onstage.

Ariel Character Background

Ariel is a spirit who is bound on the island to serve Prospero. This is because Prospero saved him from the imprisonment of the Sycorax. He was imprisoned for 12 years, during and after the Sycorax died. In the Tempest Ariel will be granted his freedom in a few days, if he continues to obey Prospero's orders exactly.

The origin of Ariel name is unknown, but there are similarities between him and the Ariel mentioned in the bible. Ariel in this context means 'Lion of the Lord'. Ariel is similar to many of the other spirit characters in Shakespeare's plays, like Puck in A Midsummer's Night's Dream. However, Ariel is different to these characters as he has a human side to him which most other spirit characters do not. He longs for freedom and so has a sense of individualism. Whereas characters like Puck who serves Oberon, doesn't question his place but accepts and enjoys it.

How does sound communicate to an audience in our play?

In our play the main sound comes from the Ariels, who will be holding various kinds of instruments. The idea behind the sound was to have little or none pre recorded sound, and have everything live during the performance. I think this will allow for a better performance experience for the audience as live music will be able to give more of an impact.

The music will be used to enhance the magic feel of the island and is used when creating the storm, and most of the time Ariel is onstage. When Prospero performs spells music is used. It will hopefully add to this idea that magic and the spirits are what control the island.  Using music in the storms to create the sounds cape of a storm will work as a way of building the tension and drama of the scene, so the audience will understand the conditions of the scene.

With our theme of our play being quite 'hippy' like, the music may be able to be used to give a laid back feel, as well as dramatic when needed. It could be like music is what is representing the magic on the island so whenever the music is played magic is working. This could help the audience to work out when the non islander characters are working from free will or are under the influence of Prospero and Ariel.

The Tudor and Elizabethan times

In 1547, it was the end of the medieval period. It was the beginning of the early modern period. The power balance in England began to shift with a bigger separation between church and state. This was when the printing press was invented. New worlds were being discovered, such as the Americas.

As well as this the protestant movement was on the move. Henry V11 was in power and he broke away from the catholic church, in order to divorce his current wife Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. He then named himself head of the church of England. This movement away from the catholic church meant that the corruption and hypocrisy of the catholic church was ending.

Before this, the divide between the rich and poor was huge. During this time the middle classes were created and this meant there was more class mobility and less of economic divide. This was known the renaissance or enlightenment period. This was when people were moving further away from religion and starting to ask more questions. There was more interest in art, philosophy and literature.

Although Britain was now protestant many people still held the beliefs of Catholicism. Some saw the new church as a way of reforming the country despite their beliefs and so supported it. The King Henry was some what of a 'tyrannical' leader. After reforming the church he took any money from the catholic churches and put it back into state funds. He then executed anyone who openly disagreed with the protestant church or appeared faithful to Rome and the Pope. Protestants who tried to reform the country too much were also prosecuted.

Henry died in 1547 at the age of 55, he was severely obese and from this suffered various health problems. His only legitimate (born in wedlock) son, Edward took over the thrown. He was only 9 at the time and so was not able to have full power. A party of 16 executors were selected to Edward Seymour to become the 'Lord Protector' until Edward Henry's son, was able to take the thrown aged 18.   Taking over from him was Lady Jane Grey who only served 9 days. She was then arrested for high treason and eventually executed.

In 1558 Queen Elizabeth took to the thrown, she is famous for many things among them is never marrying or having children. This meant she was the last to reign in the Tudor/Elizabethan period.  Her reign focused greatly on peace and civil security. In this time lots of people were heavily monitored by the crown. It was similar to what we would now know as a police state. If you broke the law you would be severely punished. For example stealing bread may result in your hand being chopped off.

Shakespeare was born in 1564 so after Henry's reign, during Elizabeth's and the reform of the church had already happened. However, the repercusions of which were still felt.

How do the costumes in you play communicate to a contemporary audience?

The main factor which has influenced our costume has been the theme we are using to adapt the tempest. Our's is a feminist, hippy theme. The costumes reflect this. The costumes are being used as a way of distinguishing between different character groups. We have the islanders which are wearing the 'hippy' costumes with bright colours and lots of different materials. The king's men should be wearing torn up suits. This links to our idea that our female Prospero was cast away from her home as she was to successful and they resented a women doing so.

The suits I feel could be used as a way of looking at women in the business world, where a glass ceiling exists for women when they try and progress through a company. For many reasons: some may not believe a women could be up to the job. Often the issue is a women's age, employers often worry about hiring women in their 20s and 30s as they may be likely to take time off for maternity leave. 

The costumes that the islanders wear: Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and Ariel, all look from the designs as though they are thrown together. They are extremely colorful and unusual, totally different to what you normally see people walking down the street wearing. This could show an audience the difference between the world the kings men live in and the world they are now in. It helps to bring to life the mystical atmosphere in the island and the magic that Prospero's character has over the island and it's elements. 

The Globe Stage

We went to see Romeo and Juliet in  The Globe theatre which is a reconstructed version of the Globe theatre where much of Shakespeare's work was performed. At the Globe, like for us when we perform The Tempest at school, you have to perform to an audience on three sides. The globe also has a standing audience known as the 'groundlings'. They were called this because this was where the lower class people would stand to watch plays as opposed middle and upper class people who would be in the seated areas.

In the production we saw many people in the standing area we able to be more immersed into the performance. The actors would often enter through the audience.  At the beginning of the performance the actors were in the audience making noises and heckling and the rest of the audience didn't know they were actors until the performance began.

Original performance conditions 

When Charles 11 came to power in 1649 he began to encourage women to perform in theatre, before this only men could be actors. The female parts used to usually be played by teenage boys as they had higher voices and more slender frames.

Rehearsals wouldn't occur until the day of performance, or soon before. There would rarely be a director, just one of the actors who may take charge more. This was because in Shakespeare's time people would 'hear a play' as opposed to see it. This meant there was less of a need for stage directions and blocking and lots of movement onstage. This allowed the actors to get away with learning their lines and finding their character on their own and coming to the performance prepared.

The Globe is a thrust stage. It has two pillars. These are made of single tree trunks that were then painted to look like marble. It's an open air theatre with two levels. As it is open air there is also no lighting. It also means weather can affect performance conditions but they carry on no matter what. The overhang on the roof of the theatre is known as the 'heavens'. The pit, which is where the groundlings stand next to the stage, is known at hell. This would often to help identify a character for the audience. For example if a character entered from the top of the stage they were a good character and from the bottom meant they were bad.Of course, there would and are many exceptions to this but it was often a good signification for the audience to relate to. Often the other actors would make a sound scape from the pit entrance to help create an atmosphere. In plays like the Tempest Shakespeare is trying to create seperate worlds of the Island and the shipwrecks. The idea of the heaven and hells and the trapped doors in the Globe helped for the creating of other worlds.

They didn't have much set because there was very little money and usually did a different play everyday. This was why Shakespeare wrote in so much detail about the surroundings, weather and place through his characters. This was so he could establish the surroundings without the audience needing to see it. This related back to the point that people went to hear a play as opposed to seeing it. Costume however was used to establish character, time and setting a lot more than maybe now as we can also relate to set for that too.

In the pit where the groundlings stood it would cost 1-3p for a ticket. Acting in the globe allowed for far more audience interaction. This is because without the lighting you would be staring directly at them. The audience's attitudes towards theatre was very different then. Theatre was more accessible now in many ways as there was seating appropriate for every class. It would be like a sport or festival. People would go to the toilet in the pit and eat their dinner, shout onstage, boo or cheer maybe even throw things. This audience interaction was also part of the reason Shakespeare used soliloquy's in his plays. These are like monologues but they are spoken directly to the audience, confronting the fourth wall and almost accepting the truth that they are there and the actor is just standing on a stage. Soliloquy's normally are the character letting the audience know what they are thinking. The intimacy that could be achieved with the audience on this stage may have helped with that.

There were two doors at the back which lead to the tiring house where the actors would wait to come on stage. Also there was a curtain backstage for actors to change their costumes. Above the stage doors were the lords room, this is where people who invested in the theatre would go. Above the stage there is the musicians gallery where live music for the plays would be performed. Sometimes actors would perform from there, more so now, but generally is was kept for the music. The stage had a doorway left and right and the door in the middle. These are for entrances and exits. The original globe stage had an inner and outer stage.

Dimensions of the globe

• Height of stage- 5ft
• Width of stage - 45ft
• Length of stage - 30ft
• Audience Capacity Standing - 600
• Audience Capacity Seated - 900

Historical Context - What Inspired The Tempest

The tempest is thought to have been written around 1610/11. It is also believed to be the last play Shakespeare would have written entirely himself. The Tempest and Love’s Labor’s Lost are the only two Shakespeare plays with a completely original story line. 

An event that may have been part of the inspiration for writing 'The Tempest' was the storm of off Bermuda which Shipwrecked the 'Sea Venture'. This was a seventeenth century sailing ship, she was the flagship boat for the Virginia company. These were boats sailing from Plymouth to Virginia in 1607. They established settlements in Virginia in 1607 and additional settlers came in 1608. The Sea venture set sail in 1609 from Plymouth along with two other ships. It was bound for Virginia. It carried 500 to 600 people. However, a storm on the 24th July caused the ships to be separated. The other two ships survived. However, the fact that the Sea Venture was newly built meant that the timbers hadn't set well which meant it began leaking and filling with water and the ship began to break. The Admiral on the morning of the 25th saw land, he drove the ship onto the reef of Bermuda, this meant 150 people and a dog were lead safely ashore. 

As well as this the Philosopher Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance. He wrote an essay called 'Of the Cannibals' which was translated to English in 1603. This was thought to be part of the inspiration for The Tempest. This essay looked at the relationships between the colonizer and the colonized. It is thought that the name 'Caliban' in the Tempest derives from the word cannibal, which is what the essay focused on. Almost every character within The Tempest questions what it would be like if they were given power over the island. This is also why this essay could have inspired Shakespeare's writing. 

People around this time were aware of the Governments work on discovering un-colonized islands. This was around the time they were discovering America and therefore people became curious about how indigenous people were surviving in societies so different to their own. In The Tempest we see Prospero, Miranda and Caliban all surviving and living in a culture very different to the Elizabethan England Shakespeare knew, there fore he may have heard these stories which inspired these ideas.