The Performance

After the mammoth task of learning their lines and roles the children were ready to perform them enthusiastically and in character. They all had their musical pieces perfected. The animations were ready. Finally, the day of the performance, to an audience of parents, the primary school and Klasse 4 DST:

 

Thank you tall all the parents for their help with this, preparing costumes and helping children learn lines. It was worth it!

Thanks too to Mrs Barry who did such fantastic work on the costumes and backstage, to Mr Davidson who prepared the musical pieces in his music lessons, to Joss Harris for the choreography and dance rehearsals and to Miss Ash for managing the projected material.

Map

Where it all happens

Prospero's island is somewhere out there in the Mediterranean Sea:

Tempest Map

Caliban

Caliban

I’m Caliban and only mummy (Sycorax) knows when I was born – and therefore how old I am. I have a twin sister, Elaban. Me and Siss always stick together.

We are being enslaved and kept in a cave against are will. Our kind would normally live in tall trees with plenty of vines to swing up and down on. Mummy used to swing us up and down, sideways and across. But she was killed, brutally murdered, by that fiend Prospero. She challenged him but he tricked her. She thought it was a hand-to-hand combat but he didn’t tell her about his Magic Book or his Stupid Staff (he always goes on and on about how he got it from Ebay - ‘only 30 euros’ he says).

He’s also got a witch of a daughter who thinks she’s so gorgeous, but if she was one of us she would be thrown in a volcano! When she was 4 she would also go on and on about how a Prince will come and rescue her and her old man (old Prospero). She always ended up getting me and Elaban into trouble because she was so boring that we fell asleep only to be kicked and stung awake by Prospero. OOOH HOW WE HATE HIM!

Like I say, me and my Sis always stick together. We have to really, because we’re all we have left of our Mummy and our species. We are forced to feast upon fresh veg. AAARRRGGGHHH! It’s revolting and we would normally feast upon raw animal flesh - it’s delicious.                

Myriam

Me, Tarvos, an Ariel

My name is Tarvos I am an Arial and my story starts here...
  
I was created by water evaporating in a special cave; it was special because a strange gas which allowed a pool of    water to evaporate and turn into a blob of floating water. After time dots of muck started to appear on me! It did that until a soul of an alien from Saturn came to the water blob and I was created. Then I came out, I met Neptune who was with Radio and Europa who are also Ariels. We instantly became friends.

The Trailer

Now you see them...

On location

Prospero, Ferdinand and Miranda:

Caliban, Elaban, Trinculo and Stephano:

The Ariels:

Getting the props ready

The Harpy's wings:

Alonsa's crown:

Prospero's staff:

Our posters for the show

Click on a poster to see it bigger:

Animation

We used an animation of The Tempest to get to know it better:







The entire play is online here.

The song

Full fathom five thy mother lies;

Of her bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were her eyes;

Nothing of her that doth fade,

But doth suffer a sea-change

Into something rich and strange.

Sea-nymphs hourly ring her knell:

Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell.

Much better...

A map of Prospero's Island

created by Ella

The script

We had our first proper run-through today. We have a working script now and can start to learn lines. If you need a copy it's here.

Our revels now are ended

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. William Shakespeare From The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1

Working on the T shirts

Our Ariels

Have you seen the names of the moons of the planet Uranus? 

Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, Puck, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos, Stephano, Trinculo...

They're all from Shakespeare's plays, and quite a few are from The Tempest. Can you spot them?

Well, as we have not one Ariel in our version of the play but twelve, we thought we would return the favour and name them after planets, moons and other space features. Here they are:

Titan	Calypso	Pluto	Europa
Proteus	Zenith / Harpy	Radio	Moon
Triton	Mars	Neptune	Tarvos