The Tempest
Fri May 19, 09:30 - Tue May 23, 16:00
National Children's Theatre - Open air theatre
ABOUT
NCT Presents The Tempest
Revenge! Justice! Isolation! Forgiveness! These themes resonate today, just as they did when The Tempest was first presented in 1610-1611.
National Children’s Theatre proudly presents The Tempest, an educational theatre project with the objective of shining a spotlight on what is widely considered to be Shakespeare’s last play, his farewell to the stage. The play will go on tour to schools in all provinces from 8 May to 2 June 2023 specifically as an IEB matric setwork for Grades 11 and 12,
NCT has a public performance for all our fans on Friday, 19 May at 09:30 in our OUTDOOR Imagination Theatre.
NCT is thrilled that Lucy Wylde is directing The Tempest. She trained both in South Africa and the United Kingdom, worked with directors from the Globe and RSC Theatres, and on international collaborative high school Shakespeare productions and with Shakespearean texts for performance. Having run a sister company to The Factory in England—known as The Framework in South Africa—Lucy now teaches at some of South Africa’s top tertiary performance institutions. She is an affiliate of the WITS Tsikinya-Chaka Centre for Shakespeare studies.
NCT’s production works with The Framework methods of guerilla-style Shakespeare, making the work more immediate, accessible and alive for students. As well as a short introductory talk, there will be a brief Q&A after the 75 min show. “There will be no chance to nod off during the show”, says Lucy Wylde.
In The Tempest Shakespeare moved beyond a straightforward comedy or tragedy and blends both genres into a new art form; this play is the most perfect example, presenting charged emotional scenes as well as amusing comedy.
The play is set on a faraway island refuge where a man is biding his time. Prospero, the one-time Duke of Milan, robbed of position, power and wealth, and banished from his dukedom by his usurping brother, Antonio, has been abandoned by his enemies and condemned to isolation. But Prospero is no ordinary man. He has learned magical powers, and when a sail appears on the horizon, he reaches out to the ship carrying the men who treated him so shamefully, and creates a violent storm, wrecking the ship. Prospero’s enemies wash up on the shore; when they wake, they find themselves lost on a fantastical island where nothing is as it seems. When Prospero’s beloved daughter Miranda falls in love with Ferdinand, one of the castaways, Prospero is reawakened to the better side of his nature and leads the drama to a conclusion.
The play, a turbulent tale of worlds and societies and families in crisis, with a natural disaster as a backdrop, has many dark moments, but it also has many comic routines thanks to fantastical island residents: Ariel and Caliban. It shines a spotlight on relationships—Prospero seems heroic, yet he enslaves Caliban and has an appetite for revenge. Caliban seems to be a monster for attacking Miranda but appears heroic in resisting Prospero. The play also deals with redemption, and the rediscovery of kindness. Its memorable poetry and unforgettable characters remind us that virtue and forgiveness are supreme human values.
“Ultimately the play is about transformation: from tears to laughter, from cruelty to forgiveness, from enslavement to freedom. It investigates individual freedom: our desire to achieve it and our struggle to preserve it. It offers us hope,” says Moira Katz, NCT’s CEO.
To book your school: Phone Cindy: Cindy 011 484 1584 or [email protected]