Details

A spellbinding exploration of Shakespeare, inspired by the comic characters in The Tempest. Returning to the magical island of The Tempest, Stephano and Trinculo have been enlisted on the 'not at all dangerous or life-threatening' mission of retrieving a book of magic for their master, the sorcerer Prospero, and to take it back to Milan. Waking with an almighty hangover, they try to piece together the calamitous happenings of the night before, which had something to do with a bottle, a book and a monster. Arriving at the conclusion that last night Caliban, the monstrous son of the witch Sycorax, must have taken the book, they do some serious retracing of steps, some more serious drinking and then some serious thinking. But when they do eventually find him, Caliban warns that if they try to leave the Island with the book disaster is sure to follow. Created for a teenage audience the production uses clown techniques, live music and story telling to tap into The Tempest's key themes of power and responsibility. As in Shakespeare's theatre the theatrical style develops out of the traditions of medieval voice plays, folk story telling and minstrelsy. Through the world of Trinculo and Stephano it provides a refreshing new way of encountering characters and sequences from the play and also functions as a more generic introduction to Shakespeare's language.

Cast/Performers

John Tearney (Stephano), Ben Van Der Velde (Jester)

Creatives/Company

Author(s): Daniel Bye, Gail McIntyre (and the company)
Company: West Yorkshire Playhouse Touring Company
Director(s): Daniel Bye, Kay Magson (casting), Gail McIntyre (associate director)
Design: Barney Goerge
Music: Richard Ormrod