On this date in 1611, Shakespeare's romantic comedy The Tempest was first presented at Whitehall Palace in London.
The play was first performed for James I as part of a season of festivities celebrating the marriage of his daughter Princess Elizabeth to Frederick V, the Elector of the Palatinate of the Rhine.
We don’t know for sure exactly when it was written but evidence supports the idea that it was probably composed sometime between late 1610 to mid-1611. It’s thought that Shakespeare was planning to retire at this time and that he intended it to be his last play. He did, however, go on to write two more, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, although these were a collaboration with John Fletcher who worked in The King’s Men acting company with Shakespeare and became the lead playwright after his death. Hence The Tempest is considered the last play written entirely by Shakespeare.
The play may have been inspired by a real shipwreck which took place in 1609 and was widely reported at the time. The ship was called the Sea Venture which was en route to Virginia. The ship ship ran aground on the island of Bermuda stranding its crew on the deserted island. The Tempest begins with a storm and a shipwreck which strands Prospero and his infant daughter Miranda on a desert island, and this is the reason for the title of the play.
Prospero was a duke who had been usurped by his brother and had escaped by boat. After the wreck, he uses magic to enslave a spirit named Ariel and Caliban, who lives on the island. After twelve years a ship carrying Antonio, the treacherous brother, passes by. Prospero decides to get revenge by creating a storm so that Antonio gets marooned as well along with Alonso, King of Naples, his heir, Ferdinand, and members of the royal court. Prospero decides that Miranda, now 15, should marry Ferdinand. Luckily for Miranda, she meets Ferdinand on the island and falls in love with him. Prospero arranges a wedding masque to celebrate the engagement. Eventually Prospero forgives all those who have wronged him and they all sail away from the island with Ariel making sure the weather remains fine for their journey. After this, Ariel is set free and Miranda marries her prince.
Miranda is the only female character in The Tempest, which means it has the fewest female characters of Shakespeare’s plays. Ariel is sometimes interpreted as a female spirit, and there have been numerous productions where Prospero is portrayed as a woman.
The Tempest has more music in it than any other Shakespeare play. Full Fathom Five and Where The Bee Sucks There Suck I are two songs which may have been sung in the play, attributed to Robert Johnson, who regularly composed for the King's Men. Hence The Tempest has been produced as an opera at least 46 times. Arthur Sullivan and Jean Sibelius are among the composers who have written incidental music for the play in later productions.
Modern interpretations have often set stories based on this play in space, with characters becoming stranded on other planets. For example, 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet in which Professor Morbius and his daughter Altaira are the Prospero and Miranda figures and Ariel is represented by Robbie the Robot. An episode of Star Trek in 1969, Requiem for Methuselah, is another example. The planet Holberg 917-G. Is the setting. The Prospero figure is Flint, an immortal man who has isolated himself from humanity and has advanced technology that borders on magic. Flint's young ward Rayna Kapec is Miranda, and Ariel is again represented by a robot, this time called M4.
Staying in space for a moment, 24 of the 27 known moons of Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare, with more named after characters in The Tempest than any other play. The moon called Ariel, however, was named for a character called Ariel from Alexander Pope’s poem The Rape of the Lock.
This play gave us the expressions “brave new world”, “into thin air” and “in a pickle”.
Sir John Gielgud played Prospero many times, and is, according to Douglas Brode, "universally heralded as ... [the 20th] century's greatest stage Prospero".
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Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
