The Tempest Reimagined. Directed by Nona Sheppard. Written by Nona Sheppard and Liza Magtoto. Philippine Educational Theater Association. November 19, 2016.

Authors

Maria Teresa P. Tinio, Far Eastern UniversityFollow

Abstract

Excerpt: In November, 2016, the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) staged The Tempest Reimagined, a work that weaves the original Shakespearean text into a narrative set in the present day about a Yolanda-like disaster. Directed by Nona Sheppard of the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts in London and written by Sheppard and Liza Magtoto of PETA, The Tempest Reimagined functions as two plays in one. The first is Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which is set in an island inhabited by Prospero, Miranda, Caliban, and Ariel, upon which are shipwrecked Ferdinand, Alonso, Antonio, Trinculo, and Stephano. The second is set in a typhoon-ravaged Philippine island whose inhabitants have names but whose struggles are collective rather individual—first in dealing with the tragedy of the disaster, then later with the government and with aid agencies. Their story runs alongside that of The Tempest. Finally, the two plays come together, and the all’s-well that-end’s-well of The Tempest is made to parallel the closure arrived at by the typhoon-victims and the recognition that life goes on after the disaster.

Recommended Citation

Tinio, Maria Teresa P. (2017) "The Tempest Reimagined. Directed by Nona Sheppard. Written by Nona Sheppard and Liza Magtoto. Philippine Educational Theater Association. November 19, 2016.," Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia: Vol. 7: No. 1, Article 13.
Available at: https://archium.ateneo.edu/paha/vol7/iss1/13