Introduction
The Tempest is the title of the play watched; it was written by William Shakespeare and directed by Gregory Doran in the year 2016. It was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and held by it. The central driving force behind the production is its main character, Prospero. In particular, a powerful noble wizard uses his magical abilities to restore justice – he intends to regain power and lead offenders to repentance. Prospero does not set himself the goal of revenge since he is more attracted to the idea of Christian forgiveness and the subsequent rejection of magic (Doran). Prospero plays justice with the help of the air spirit of Ariel and smaller spirits subordinate to him, which can become invisible or take on various forms of animals and deities. The wizard knows exactly how and what to do to make people show their most striking qualities. The play shown in the theater is an innovative performance created by using augmented reality and motion capture technologies. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the magnificent performance gave Shakespeare’s late play an exciting freshness and wit.
Response
It is worth noting that all the elements of the performance transformed the play into a canvas, into which the viewer was able to plunge completely and feel themselves part of the performance. A fierce storm, mythical spirits, a wizard with supernatural abilities – these are the main elements of The Tempest. Video installations and sound accompaniment are what allowed to cast off the actors’ play. It is important that the technologies were integrated into the play in such a way that they complemented the capabilities of the traditional theater, and did not fill the whole performance. For instance, Ariel’s digital spirit came to life on stage – it played on stage in real-time without post-production rendering, which made this digital character realistic. Due to the projections, Ariel was able to take various forms, including the harpy – a mythical half-woman half-bird with huge claws and a human face (Doran). Other characters were dressed in costumes that combined the spirit of the time with the modern world, which made them relatable for viewers of different age categories.
It is important that the place where the production was shown and the scenic design were important for creating realism. In particular, rows of seats were framing the stage, allowing viewers to feel part of what was happening (Doran). The audience sat so close to the stage that they could see every fold of clothing and every muscle on the actor’s face. Stage decorations were ascending to the ceiling, which created an impression that the stage was big, especially when the decorations were arranged in the form of a boat. The team of actors brought to the play an absurd, but vital humor. The performance turned out to be extremely amusing in many moments, but the actors penetrated the very heart of The Tempest with their brilliant, inventive play. It should be stressed that there were no moments when the actors moved awkwardly or were unnaturally interacting with each other. They articulated very clearly, which was important because the viewer did not need to allocate part of their attention to decomposing the messages – they could focus on the content.
It is curious that the directors chose a soft color palette and accompanied it with appropriate lighting. All the colors were complex, muddy and, in the costumes of all the characters (including fantastic and digital ones), the viewer could observe a connection with nature and natural materials. For the naturalness of the palette to intertwine the costumes of the characters together with their images, it was decided to use muted lighting, which became more vivid on the semantic accents in the performance. The sound was also natural and grew louder, then quieter to place logical pauses or to maintain an alarming or humorous mood. Interestingly, the sound and lighting were as simple as possible at the end of the performance to allow the viewer to concentrate on the monologue (Doran). The director did an amazing job to collect all these elements into a single experience and create a balance between the emotionally loaded parts of the play.
Summary and Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that The Tempest is a remarkable play that united classics with modern technology to transform viewers’ experiences into something new. The play is devoid of genuine tragedy; slightly worrying the viewer, it gives them a sharp and entertaining experience. Nevertheless, Shakespeare introduced a very special tone into it, switching the audience into the world of a fairy tale. In the same way, this production became a combination of experimental technologies that expanded the scope of the possibilities on the theatre stage. All the elements of the performance, including costumes, music, lighting, directing, acting, and scenic design, worked together to expose the audience to a new experience.
Work Cited
Doran, Gregory, director. The Tempest. Royal Shakespeare Company, 2016.