The Tempest. Music / Theatre based on the work by William Shakespeare. Length : 75 minutes, no intermission -In English-

Transcription

1 The Tempest

2 The Tempest Music / Theatre based on the work by William Shakespeare Length : 75 minutes, no intermission -In English- Serge Ayala (France) - Stage direction Wi With: Eliot Giuralarocca (U.K.) - Actor Bronya Deutsch (U.K.) - Actress Katy Elkin (USA) - Shawms, recorders, dulcimer, sackbut Esteban Mazer (Argentina-Spain) - Harpsichord Nicolas Muzy (France) - Theorbo, renaissance guitar Idoia Bengoa (Spain - Luxembourg) - Dulcian, recorders Juan Ullibarri U (Spain - Luxembourg) - Cornetto, sackbut, duduk, whistles, bagpipes

3 The press says...

4 The Tempest... In our Tempest the commedia dell arte actor Serge Ayala joins British actor Eliot Giuralarocca, and together with five musicians from the early music ensembles Le Tendre Amour and Quatricina bring The Tempest to life, reuniting Shakespeare s text with its original music. In lively 17th century spirit, the arts are reunited as music and theater are once again experienced as a whole as Shakespeare himself intended. The Tempest is staged on an isolated island ruled by the magician Prospero, whose power on this magical island- is limitless. A range of characters find themselves on the island, against their will they include lovers and others from noble classes, and more ridiculous figures from improvised comedy. By the end of their encounters with each other and with the magician, reconciliations both sentimental and comic have been achieved. Prospero begins the play determined to exert his revenge on those who usurped his dukedom. Shakespeare instead chose to end the story with a cascade of gentility, where those who plotted his murder are pardoned, his daughter is happily allowed to marry her lover, and his slaves are released as pa promised. Not only is The Tempest a romance full of magic, but also a stage for debates about authority and power that ring true still today. The Tempest does not necessarily have an Italian original as its source, but Shakespeare was an avant-garde who knew how to use the latest theatrical fashions in dazzling combinations. Comic routines such as those of Trinculo, Stephano and Caliban suggest similarities to Italian commedia dell arte, a style that relied on few and staple characters, expandable jokes, masks, and very simple staging. Our Tempest is inspired by lively commedia dell arte in its use of masks and simple, rustic props. Symmetry was essential to classic playwrights, and The Tempest observes the classical unities where the story must occur in the space of a day and remain in one place. Indeed, there are symmetries at every level as there are two sets of father and child, two pairs of brother, two conspiracies, and two sets of three men of sin. In our version, two actors play the myriad of roles, but their paired presence is symmetrical as they play the two evil characters Sebastian and Antonio versus the noble Gonzalo and Alonso, the lovers Ferdinand and Miranda, or the magician Prospero with his servant Ariel. The Tempest was probably the first play specifically designed by Shakespeare for the newly acquired indoor theater at Blackfriars in 1608 by the King s Men. The new playing space meant that each act break had to be marked by a pause of a few minutes in order to trim the candles. This pause was covered by music. But Shakespeare realized the theatrical power that music had and called for it more than practical scene changes. Each act builds to a powerful dramatic moment: the first ends with the subjection of Ferdinand, the second culminates in Caliban s song and celebration of freedom, the third with the reaction to Ariel s appearance as a harpy, and the fourth with Caliban and his cohorts driven out by dogs. Each close marks the central themes of subjection and freedom.

5 The Tempest... Music was integral to Shakespeare s own original concept of a theatre performance, and in our case will accompany and guide the listener through the story. We have reunited the text with its forgotten melodies and use the very instruments that Shakespeare would have known and heard. In The Tempest Shakespeare specifically calls for magic Shakespea music, solemn music, sweet airs, thunder and wind, and noises not to mention the implied overture, fanfares, hunting calls, and music for changing the scenery. But not only is it haunted by noises and sweet airs, its music is more insistent and integral to the action that in any other Shakespearian drama. ac And it is for this reason that we have chosen to not only include music in the exact places as specified by Shakespeare, but make it absolutely integral to the telling of this story. Each character, in addition to having his very visible and identifying prop, is also given a musical color that emphasizes his personality. Just as in Shakespeare s time, the five musicians present onstage in our Tempest perform on a variety of instruments, allowing the freedom to play styles ranging from folk tunes to pompous overtures. Thanks to Shakespeare s musical knowledge, a real symbiosis occurs between the text and the music. And it is our hope that the audience will discover that Shakespeare s eloquent texts of The Tempest, paired with the original sound colors of that lively time are just as powerful and moving today as they were centuries ago. From fanfare to love song to broadside ballad, sounds from the time of Shakespeare will animate his florid text, together creating an unforgettable tale of magic and fantasy.

6 Performances in Luxembourg: :00 Children s concert Salle Robert Krieps 6 (student) Billetterie (p. ) :00 Salle Robert Krieps 20 / 8 (red.) 1,50 (Kulturpass) Co-production: ensemble Le Tendre Amour (Barcelona), Quatricina (Luxembourg) With the support of : Neimënster, Acción Cultural Española