The Tempest: A New Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Classic Play
The Tempest, one of the most famous and influential works by William Shakespeare, is getting a new adaptation by director Julie Taymor. The film, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, features an impressive cast of actors, including Helen Mirren as Prospera, a gender-swapped version of the original protagonist Prospero.
The Tempest tells the story of Prospera, a powerful sorceress who lives on a remote island with her daughter Miranda and her loyal spirit Ariel. When Prospera’s enemies, who usurped her dukedom in Milan, are shipwrecked on the island by a magical storm, she decides to take revenge on them and restore her rightful place. Along the way, she also orchestrates a romance between Miranda and Ferdinand, the son of the king of Naples.
Taymor, who is known for her innovative and visually stunning productions of The Lion King and Across the Universe, said that she wanted to explore the themes of power, forgiveness, and gender in The Tempest. She also said that she chose Mirren for the role of Prospera because she is “one of the greatest actresses of our time” and because she wanted to show a female perspective on the story.
The Tempest has been adapted many times before, in various media and genres. Some of the most notable examples are Forbidden Planet, a 1956 sci-fi film that set the story in space; Prospero’s Books, a 1991 film by Peter Greenaway that used multiple layers of images and texts; and Hag-Seed, a 2016 novel by Margaret Atwood that reimagined the story as a prison drama.
The Tempest is expected to be released in theaters later this year. Critics and audiences are eagerly awaiting to see how Taymor will bring Shakespeare’s magical masterpiece to life on the big screen.
The Tempest is widely regarded as one of Shakespeare’s most original and complex plays. It combines elements of comedy, romance, tragedy, and fantasy, and explores themes such as colonialism, slavery, justice, and art. It is also considered to be Shakespeare’s last solo play, and some scholars have interpreted it as his farewell to the theater.
The play has inspired many artists and thinkers over the centuries, who have found new meanings and interpretations in its rich and ambiguous text. Some of the most famous adaptations of The Tempest are by composers such as Jean Sibelius, Thomas Adès, and Arthur Sullivan; painters such as William Hogarth, John Everett Millais, and Paul Klee; and writers such as Aimé Césaire, W.H. Auden, and Philip Pullman.
The Tempest is also a popular choice for theatrical productions, especially in outdoor settings. Some of the most memorable performances of The Tempest are by actors such as John Gielgud, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and David Tennant. The play has also been staged in unconventional ways, such as in a swimming pool, a circus tent, and a volcanic island.
The Tempest is also a play that challenges the audience’s expectations and perceptions. It blurs the boundaries between reality and illusion, nature and artifice, and order and chaos. It invites the viewers to question their own assumptions and judgments, and to empathize with the characters’ dilemmas and emotions.
One of the most famous and powerful scenes in The Tempest is the speech by Prospera in Act 4, Scene 1, where she renounces her magic and prepares to return to the real world. She says:
“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.”
This speech is often seen as a metaphor for the theater itself, and for the transience and fragility of human life. It also expresses a sense of wonder and gratitude for the beauty and mystery of the world.