Language of Theatre 18/03/13

We all got together with the cast and Will for our first Language of Theatre lesson. Will pitched to us our concept of The Tempest, by William Shakespeare and then told us the casting.

The Concept

The play is extremely adaptable as it has many many themes, including:

• Magic
• Mystery
• Jealousy
• Love
• Slavery
• Rivals
• Government
• Power

Our concept is:

• It is a comment upon colonialisation; Ireland is our colony so the theme still echoes today. In the Victorian era, Britain was a colonial superpower, as we had an empire.
• The play should be a condemnation of colonization and slavery.
• Our play is set in Sierra-Leone.
• 'The Lost' are indiginous Africans or the white people are the traders.
• Prospero will be likened to a man named Johm Glover
• Caliban is likened to the Reverand Crowther, who was the 1st Anglican Bishop
• Ariel will be an indiginous african, slave to Prospero, but very powerful
• There is a present drug-theme throughout the play, rather than Prospero being magical he is a witch doctor who drugs everyone on the island.

Casting

Prospero - Tian

Miranda - Molly

Ariel - Jordan

Caliban - Gavin 

Ferdinand - Cameron

Alonso - Jonah

Gonzalo - Amaya

Antonio - Alex

Sebastian - Tom

Francisco - Phoebe

Adrian - Yusef

Stephana - Sarah

Trincula - Katie

Iris - Catherine

Ceres - Moyo

Juno - Georgia

Boatswain - Parris

The Lost

Catherine

Moyo

Georgia

Alice

Saffron

Holly

Nikki

Dajay

Parris

I think the casting is interesting and some of it is really obvious and good, such as Jordan as this version's Ariel. Some people have big challenges such as Amaya who is playing an elderly man. 

Personally my own casting is interesting, as usually the character is male. I'm looking forward to playing the comedy role, as it'll be interesting trying to bring some humour to this otherwise rather dark take on the production. I am interested to find out more about my character.

I think this is a really interesting context that'll give a political edge to the ideology. It will be an exposition of British and African history. I'm excited to work on a project that could be really engaging. Personally I need to improve at organic and interesting character developments. Connecting with the language will be a challenge and I need to explore physicality especially with such a bold character as Trinculo.

As we grow as our characters we need to work out our scars. Be proud of them. Work them out.

The language
The language barrier will be a major challenge for all of us.
Here are key things to think about when working on a Shakesperean text:

• Pronunciation
• What am I saying?
• What are the important parts/words
• Making it your own - don't just read off a page
• Iambic Pentameter - Research this.
• The 'invisible pauses' i.e. the Cezura.
• Finding the light and the dark in the lines
• Appropriating physicality to the words
• The words ride on the action.