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CHARACTERS
ALONSO, King of Naples
SEBASTIAN, the King’s brother
FERDINAND, son to the King of Naples
PROSPERO, the Duke of Milan
ANTONIO, the Duke’s brother
MIRANDA, daughter of the Duke of Milan and wife of Ferdinand
GONZALO, counselor to the King of Naples
CALIBAN, a non-European former slave of the Duke of Milan, now a
servant to Gonzalo
ARIEL, a former free spirit of the Duke of Milan and now a servant of
Antonio
CLARIBEL, daughter of King Alonso and wife of Carlos, King of Tunisia
CARLOS, King of Tunis and a Moor
SYCORAX, a witch and mother of Caliban
WILLIAM, a noted writer
TIME: Around 1600
SETTING: The home of the King of Naples
PROLOGUE
SCENE ONE - A balcony in the large hall of the home of the King of
Naples
Enter WILLIAM
WILLIAM: If you were expecting witches
At the start of our quest
Fear not, for one will arrive in due course
After her presence is much discussed.
My name is William, a writer of some renown
To set the tone, give some of what is now called back-story
And allow for the admission of the usual latecomers
To such venues as we now do all perceive.
This play, like many others I, myself, have written
Should be, unlike boys, seen, heard and read
For often reading gives larger meaning
And explains best all intentions.
But it is a request I’ve long ago dismissed
For the modern audience member
Has such a short attention span
Compared to Londoners half a millennium past.
At any rate what you will see today
Will be a sequel to my “Tempest”
A coda or what might have been
When all on the island of Bermoothes
Returned to sunny Italy.
I, myself, left notes though never found
On this I must assure you
For, of course, it stands to reason
To know what did these people do.
Perhaps this writer did become privy
To my future musings on the matter
Or just as likely asked himself
My self-same questions as to what
If anything, might transpire.
Perhaps I might, with manager’s permission
See you one-on-one at intermission.
If so I’ll sell you a souvenir or two
Perhaps “Shakespeare’s Bawdy” doubly blue
With all monies advancing the cause of both “The Globe” and this
theatre.
Now to conclude my monologue let me state that if you were
groundlings
Those who in my day bought the cheapest ticket
And stood in open air for the entire performance
I could not have said as I say to you this day
“Sit back, relax and enjoy the show”.
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE - A large hall in the home of the King of Naples
Enter CALIBAN and ARIEL
CALIBAN: Once upon a time I lived upon an island.
ARIEL: ‘Twas a year ago that you and I left there with the others.
CALIBAN: I was there a servant to the Duke of Milan
Considered by many then and now a noble man
Though I who suffered at his hands would tell a different tale
And will as this story doth unfold.
ARIEL: You were a slave to Prospero
Usurped as Duke of Milan by his brother, Antonio
Who with knowledge of Alonso, King of Naples
And the aid of his counselor, Gonzalo
Placed Prospero and his baby daughter
On a rotten carcass of a boat.
CALIBAN: These two did not drown as planned,
But came by some divine Providence
To the coast of Bermoothes,
What sailors call the Isle of Devils.
ARIEL: And here found the unlikely pair
Of Caliban (bows) and Ariel (bows)
The first the son of a blue-eyed witch from Argier
And me her servant and good spirit
Though refusing her grand hests.
CALIBAN: And was thus confined in a tree
By my mother, Sycorax
For failing her commands.
ARIEL: Who then died in her turn
While I spent twelve years
Groaning in a cloven pine
Until rescued by the magic of Prospero
CALIBAN: Yes, it was he that heard thee
And made gape the pine and let thee out
But not for nothing was this done
His magic had a purpose.
To bring to our isle all his enemies
So that he might play like a god
With nature and their natures
And resolve issues for his benefit.
ARIEL: ‘Twas no accident that dreadful storm
I caused to blow from out the northeast,
Roaring as it were by fits,
Some hours more violent than others.
At length beat all light from heaven
And caused a hell of darkness
To descend upon them.
CALIBAN: All safe from the king’s ship then
Though dispersed about the island
Except for mariners safely under hatches.
While the main fleet sailed home for Naples
And were upon the Mediterranean afloat
Saddened at the loss of King and nobles.
ARIEL: While on our isle the mind of man
Not shaped by nature’s presents
Contrived to plot new conspiracies
Including in their plans our form of nature’s presence.
CALIBAN: I admit my part, a thrice-double ass
To view the drunkards Trinculo and Stephano as gods
Bearing the gifts of liquor.
Under the influence of this potable potion
I did plan with them to murder Prospero while he slept.
ARIEL: And I witnessed at my master’s behest
Antonio confessing to Sebastian
How he seized Milan,
And would with one stroke
Make Sebastian King of Naples
If this the prize he sought.
And Sebastian as new King would free
Antonio from paying further tribute to Naples
As he himself would fall on old Gonzalo.
Together their obedient steel would steal
Away the lives of King and vassal
Neither knowing that Prospero was alive
And knowing all that they conspired.
CALIBAN: So it was that Prospero with his magic contrived
To bring together his daughter, Miranda
Now fifteen and on this isle a full twelve years
With Ferdinand, son to Alonso, King of Naples.
He returned to find them playing at chess
Whose object is to capture the king.
For what could be more fortuitous
That when Milan was thrust from Milan
His issue should become king of Naples
ARIEL: So it was that the end of our stay on the island
Alonso restored Prospero as the rightful Duke of Milan.
In the process Prospero forgave his brother
And promised to tell no tales of murderous intent
While all returned to Naples for the nuptials of Miranda and
Ferdinand.
CALIBAN: Which is where we are one year later
To celebrate our good fortune
That no one perished in tempest or return.
ARIEL: But passion and reason are alive and well
To joust anew for victory o’er action.
For while the good and noble things in life
Are won by those who act rightly
What is right is not always easily known.
Tonight we celebrate
But the vision of the celebrants greatly differs.
EXIT CALIBAN.
Enter ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN
ARIEL: This freedom I gained from Prospero
Came with a price
For I was but free to starve.
Here in this non-island world
Men are fancifully free
But live everywhere in real chains.
ANTONIO: I offered you an old world bargain
Which you were free to reject, but accepted
That in return for passage to Naples
And employment in my house
You had merely to retrieve the items
Thrust into the sea and the ground
By a supposedly reformed duke.
SEBASTIAN: Better to be rebuked than scorned
By one forgiving thy rankest fault
And telling no tales of plots against the King.
ANTONIO: Only in return restoring a dukedom
To one who admits neglecting worldly ends
For the betterment of his mind.
ARIEL: But it was his secret studies, master
That allowed control of Caliban and me
And brought all players to the island
For a game of chess with reasoned outcome.
ANTONIO: Enough! For now I hold all magic powers
Or a semblance thereof not destroyed by wave, wind and earth.
And my motives, good or ill, were forgiven
While no penitence of me asked or given.
So here I stand with friend and servant
Ready to resume my quest for Milan
And aid dear Sebastian to gain his kingdom.
SEBASTIAN: Although plotting one year ago to draw our swords together
We failed to rear our hands in timely fashion
So now in Naples it is time to put steel aside
And use Prospero’s magic to our advantage.
ANTONIO: Verily steel is quicker, but bold ideas much thicker
The first can be perceived
The last more difficult to achieve
Tis not magic to conceive, but magic if you believe.
Do you believe in magic, Sebastian?
SEBASTIAN: Before came I to that island
I believed only in what I saw
As do all reasonable men
After what I saw I came to believe only in what’s proven.
ANTONIO: Then you require proof of my magic?
For even loss of pages from the book
A mantle that ill fits, and a
Staff broken in half that does only a quarter of its work
I will make Ariel disappear before your eyes.
ARIEL: No master, please. I have seen this trick much performed
And do not wish it to be used again.
I do believe in the power of the book
And the magic of your words
Please master Sebastian
Do not ask for visual proof.
SEBASTIAN: I, too, will accept your power Antonio
Until you have power not.
ANTONIO: Well said, my friend, for artifice may hoodwink reason
When presented in a reasonable manner
Ariel shall be both magic messenger and message
And raise deceitful doubt in Prospero’s mind
Of Ferdinand’s true activities on the island
Those of the lecherous kind.
SEBASTIAN: If he believes Ferdinand lit
Hymen’s lamp before their nuptials
Then the alliance between these royal houses
Shall falter as on quicksand.
Only replacing the wounded parties
With new heads of state
Can then save the governing bodies
From their stately passions.
For seeing weakness from afar
The rulers of Spain, France and Turkey
Will salivate at thoughts of war
Where they can pick up spoils with little effort.
ANTONIO: So go Ariel, fly as if you still had wings
And plant this idea firmly in the mind of Prospero
As seed in fertile soil
For this supposed good man is like all the rest
In his propensity to harbor evil notions.
Let it simmer there with barren hate
And sour-ey’d disdain, sprout with doubt
Until it bestrews the union of their bed
The new babe, Francesco, with weeds.
To cause Alonso and Prospero to both hate the child
And their own children in turn.
EXEUNT.
Enter PROSPERO walking aimlessly
PROSPERO: Wherefore do I hear noise
A sound, a buzzing in the air
Where no one does appear?
I’ve had my rest since isle I left
And heir to carry on my quest
For enlightened government should
Be my legacy of learning
And all should hearken to that word.
But this is a land of witchcraft
Where the devil does appear
As a dunnish-colored ferret
With fiery eyes to seek out souls.
One woman, I heard tell, wouldn’t give her soul
Because it belonged to Jesus,
But gave instead blood from her finger.
The ferret’s name was “Bidd”,
And when she wanted him to do anything for her
She said, “Bidd, Bidd, Bidd,
Come Bidd, come Bidd, come Bidd
Come suck, come suck, come suck”.
Enter ARIEL, on the balcony and invisible to Prospero
ARIEL: Do you not hear me speak?
PROSPERO: A strange whisper in the air.
ARIEL: How strange it is when wheels do turn
Upon themselves to strike a time
That’s come before.
And yet no time is ever quite like time before
No matter how much glass we study.
Here we have a magician who’ll see magic
And will know not its use when performed by another.
PROSPERO: Thoughts tumble as butter in a churn
My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up
How came I to such a state from peace to flux
In a moment as short as reaching hand to cup
Ideas most foul my brain has caught
That all I desire is to close my eyes
And still my thought.
ARIEL: Too late, master, for you have set in motion
A process that did not end at water’s edge
And though I’m not the captain of your ship
I am the minister of your fate.
EXEUNT
[end of extract]
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