Ficha de presencia a un obra teatral - La Tempestad

Author: William Shakespeare

Title: La Tempestad

Company: UR teatro

Directed and translated by: Helena Pimenta

There were 11 characters presented. The main characters were Ramón Barea (Próspero), Concha Milla (Miranda) and Pepe Viyuela (Calibán)

La Tempestad is from 23 November till 12 December 2004 played in Teatre Principal. I´ve visited the play on the 30^th of November.

Dramatis personae:

The main character is Prósfero. He is dressed in white trousers and shirt which are too big and look old. He is barefooted. He has a combination of dark and grey fuzzy hear and has a beard. He is the character with the most power. He has magical power and servants. Due to him there was a Tempest and a ship wrecked. Because of his power the other characters fear him. He not sympathetic. He punishes Calibán and keeps Ariel under his enslavement. At the end of the play he get´s friendlier. He forgives his old enemies and allows his daughter, Miranda, to marry Ferdinand. Prósfero also seems to be the one that makes them meet each other and fall in love. The daughter of Prósfero is Miranda. She wears a dress that seems to be from the same material as the clothes from Prósfero. She has dark brown hair and is also barefooted. Her father has a lot of (magical) power over her. From the way she reacts on the ship that wrecks and her free movements she seems young. Due to her father she falls in love with Ferdinand but at a certain point in the play does Prósfero separate them too. In the end he allows them to marry each other.

On the Island are two other inhabitants; Ariel and Calibán. Ariel is a spirit and caused the ship to sink. Calibán is some sort of a green blue monster and works for Prósfero. Calibán meets the sailor and cook from the ship and plots with them against Prósfero. These scenes are comic, most of all because they all get drunk. Besides these two men there were 5 other men shipwrecked. All five of them wear black suits and black shoes. They look neatly at the beginning of the play but after some time their hair goes out of shape and their clothes get untidy. One of them, Ferdinand, is separated from the rest of the group. In one of the first scenes he takes off his shoes and he stays barefooted for the rest of the play.

Space:

The story starts with a shipwreck. The play starts with a big wind-machine on the right site of the stage. On the left site stands a man in a with a white operation-suit with some kind of machine that pulls robes. The ropes a tied to the rain-suits of four men. Another man in a white suit is spraying water over the men with a garden hose. There is not a part of a real ship represented, but the representation of the weather is enough to imagine a ship in storm. On the other hand it is very comic to see the stage-technicians play such a visible and significant role, especially the person with the garden hose. During the whole play, when there’s a change of décor the, technicians in the white suit are on the stage. For example is there a scene that starts with four men lying on the ground. Visible for the public, the men in white suits start spreading the apparently unconscious men from a barrow. Aspects of the play that stay the same are a big white square on the ground and a white screen on the back wall. This screen is used in several ways. In the biggest part of the play there are a few coloured lights on the screen projected and it serves just a background. In one part there’s a sandwich projected and in another part the sailor, cook and Calibán walk behind it with backlights, so that we can see there shadows. The white square stays a white square but at certain parts there are one or two red strokes over. They serve as path for the players. In the end of the play the back-curtain and screen disappear and the players walk from the stage to a door behind the stage. This walking away in the story is the walking to the ship to get off the island. I found it very funny that they used this part of the theatre, with the machines etcetera as stage.

There were a few props used in the play but they were not very significant. After the shipwreck there was a bowl of water on the left site of the stage that almost only seemed to be there so that Prósfero could moisten his throat. The most significant props were the sables from the four men. They were very present in the scenes with them. In one scene two of the men are plotting two kill the other two men so that they gain their power. In this scene the sables take especially a significant role.

Light:

The aspect light was very important in this play. It was used in several ways. A few times there was a spotlight on one of the players (most of the time this was Prósfero) to distinguish this actor from the others or darkness. A striking change of colour took place every time when Calibán was on the stage. The, most of the time neutral, light became green-blue.

The theatre was filled. We were sitting on the second floor, on the first line. There were a lot of scholars and people who appeared to be under 25 in the theatre. There was a lot of laughing in the scenes with the drunken cook and also in a scene where Ariel was naked. I found it difficult to understand the dialogues. I had read a summary before I watched the play, so I knew what it was about. This helped me understand the great lines. Without understanding everything the play was still nice to see, it didn’t bore me at all. I especially liked the scene of the shipwreck and the technicians. These details added a lot for me.

© 2004 A.N. van der Plas