The Tempest

The Tempest has become more and more of a romantic and operatic fairy tale, in which the main character is a ballerina who floats across the stage in a light leotard beating her silvery tulle wings. The real Tempest is raw and menacing, lyrical and grotesque, it is, like all of Shakespeare’s great works, a passionate portrayal of the real world.
Jan Kott

The Sea Venture, the flagship of a fleet of English voyagers emigrating to Virginia, was wrecked during a storm in the islands of Bermuda, in 1610. All of the shipwrecked passengers were rescued. This event possibly inspired William Shakespeare to write The Tempest which he wrote in 1610/11. read more The premiere took place on November 1, 1611 at the Whitehall Palace in London. Prospero, the Duke of Milan, leaves all of his affairs to his brother Antonio in order to devote himself to studying magic. Antonio enjoys the power, overthrows his brother with the help of the King of Naples and sets him adrift on the high seas with his young daughter Miranda. When the King and his followers, among them Antonio, want to pass by the deserted island where Prospero and Miranda live twelve years later, Prospero uses magic to cause the ship to be caught in a tempest and run around. Prospero now engages the castaways in a game of loss and gain, crime and revenge, punishment and forgiveness. The Tempest is most likely Shakespeare’s last play, his poetic testament. Prospero is regarded as the voice of the poet himself who, arriving at the end of his life, hangs up his magic wand. Prospero’s island however cannot be charted, rather belongs to the realm of fantasy, dreams, and theater. Sylvia Brandl

Dates and cast

Premiere on 4^th October, 2012 at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt

Adapted by Cornelia Rainer
Translated by August Wilhelm Schlegel

With Heinz Trixner (Prospero,) Sandra Lipp (Miranda), Heiner Stadelmann (Ariel), Heinrich Baumgartner (Caliban), Eduard Wildner (Antonio), Christian Futterknecht (Sebastian), Maximilian Achatz (Alonso), Hannes Pendl (Ferdinand), Jochen Tovote (Gonzalo), Gertrud Velisek (Stephana), Martina Kraul (Trincula) | Stage Direction Cornelia Rainer | Stage and Costume Design Aurel Lenfert | Dramatic Adviser Sylvia Brandl | Music Composition Matthias Pichler and Christof Dienz Press

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