Critics + Productions

Question 1

Riches

Answer 1

Ambition

[Prospero’s] “forgiveness of others is universal and unconditional”

Question 2

Hebron

Answer 2

Ambition

“His aim is to bring his enemies to realise their evil actions”

Question 3

Gibson

Answer 3

Ambition

“Caliban is brutish and evil by nature”

Question 4

Laming

Answer 4

Ambition

Caliban contains the seed of revolt

Question 5

RSC Stratford upon Avon

Answer 5

1978

Ambition

Stephano and Trinculo clown costume

Question 6

Tanner

Answer 6

Ambition

[antonio and Sebastian are] “the real monsters of the play”

Question 7

Northrop

Answer 7

Ambition

[antonio and Sebastian are] “sunk in the hallucination of greed”

Question 8

McEvoy

Answer 8

Caliban is a “product of violent enslavement”

Question 9

Freestone production

Answer 9

2023

Antonio and Sebastian beg on their knees for forgiveness

Question 10

Taymor film subversion

Answer 10

2010

Prospera

Subversion of paternal love

Question 11

Gorrie production

Answer 11

1980

Lack of love between Prospero and Ariel

Question 12

Taymor film on Miranda

Answer 12

Love

Gets in between Prospero and Ferdinand to protect him

Question 13

1993 RSC

Answer 13

Love

Ariel spits in Prospero’s face once he’s freed

Question 14

MacReady production

Answer 14

1838

Magic

Ariel’s costume - fairy costume hanging from a wire

Question 15

Mermaid theatre production

Answer 15

1970

Magic

Ariel and caliban are victims of colonisation

Question 16

Thacker production

Answer 16

1995

Magic

Prospero’s magic is omnipresent - he’s always on stage

Question 17

Jacobi

Answer 17

1982

Magic

Prospero’s struggle between omnipotence and humanity

Question 18

Barton

Answer 18

Magic

“The storm contains no hint of the marvellous or extraordinary”

Question 19

Todd

Answer 19

“Prospero controls the destiny of other characters”

Question 20

Howard

Answer 20

Comedy

“Marriage is insistently the goal of every [shakespeare] comedy”

Question 21

Riga

Answer 21

Comedy

“Stephano’s murder plot is based on folly rather than evil”

Question 22

1993 - S+T

Answer 22

Comedy

Costuming - Trinculo big shoes and ventriloquist dummy, stephano beer belly and fake posh accent

Question 23

McFarland

Answer 23

Comedy

“Gonzalo is a speaker of a certain truth”

Question 24

Donmar production

Answer 24

2016

Comedy

Set in a prison

Are they ever truly free?

Question 25

Mason

Answer 25

Comedy “Ariel is the catalyst in getting Prospero to feel and forgive”

Question 26

MacDonald

Answer 26

The play is about “the problem of power”

Question 27

Poole

Answer 27

Sebastian and Antonio are “real things of darkness”

Question 28

Hill

Answer 28

Sebastians “first instinct is always hedonistic”

Question 29

Todd (Alonso)

Answer 29

Alonso emerges from the experience purified and repentant

Question 30

Sharpe

Answer 30

Every character is driven by an internal cry for freedom

Question 31

Ashe production

Answer 31

2019 Cuts gonzalo’s utopia speech

Question 32

Green

Answer 32

“The tempest highlights the ugly nature of politics and power struggle”

Question 33

Herrin production

Answer 33

2013 Sebastian and Antonio costuming is very ornate

Question 34

Kemode

Answer 34

Learning is a major theme of the play

Question 35

Dryden production

Answer 35

1667 (restoration era) Prospero is a monarch who is ‘restored’ to his throne - special appeal to elite restoration audiences

Question 36

Shadwell production

Answer 36

1674 Operatic production - to impress the courts who loved opera Machinery, elaborate effects, spectacular staging, music

Question 37

20th century productions main theme

Answer 37

Exploration of the play as a colonial experience

Question 38

Cesaire production

Answer 38

1930s Caliban and Ariel are both slaves

Question 39

Phelps production

Answer 39

1847 Caliban was physically a monster but very human in behaviour

Question 40

Caliban : the missing link

Answer 40

1873 Darwinian view of caliban - humanised aspects of behaviour but animalistic in portrayal