Changing characters’ genders not only switch in ‘ Tempest’
Actors’ Theatre of Columbus has staged “The Tempest” four times before, but the current revival might be its most radical reinterpretation.
With the play tightened considerably, a new focus is given to the abuse of power and colonialism. Plus, six characters — including the lead character — switch genders, while another character is divided among three roles.
The season-ending production of Shakespeare’s darkly comic and romantic drama, about an exiled noble who rules a small island, continues through Sunday in Schiller Park.
“It’s a good story, but it’s always bothered me,” director David Harewood said.
“There’s an elephant in the room: An absent ruler who gets deposed, takes over the native population, comes up with rationalizations to do so and brings back the people who wronged him to restore his family’s power within the old aristocracy.”
Previous park productions — in 1987, 1992, 2001 and 2009 — were largely traditional revivals.
“Other people may call it subversive, but this is a contemporary reinterpretation of a classical work … (to spark) a constant conversation about power,” Harewood said.
His edited two-hour, two-act version critiques colonialism and the subjugation of disadvantaged people, he said.
In Shakespeare’s story, when Prospero, the Duke of Milan, is exiled from Naples and reaches the island, he takes over from its only two inhabitants: Caliban and his mother, a witch.
“Caliban was the rightful ruler of the island,” Harewood said. “What would Caliban have been had these Neapolitans not shown up? In a famous act-two speech, Caliban expresses his sense that this land should be his and never will be.”
Among the gender changes, the most notable is Prospero, now named Prospera. Meanwhile, Ariel, the sprite, is split into three goddesses.
Susan Wismar plays Prospera.
“As a privileged man who is betrayed, Prospero takes advantage and usurps power on the island. But when Prospera is a woman, she knows what it is to be both the oppressor and the oppressed,” Wismar said.
Changing the gender also affects Prospera’s relationship with Miranda (Hannah Roth).
“When her daughter survives an attempted rape by Caliban, it makes it more personal for Prospera,” Wismar said. “There’s more of a direct connection between Miranda and her mother.”
Wismar relishes her role within Harewood’s re-envisioned play.
“It’s so meaty — the deep grief, her ambivalence with forgiveness, how difficult it is to let go of her power,” she said. “What has all this magic given Prospera? This show has layers about justice, abuse of power and what vengeance looks like.”
Wilma Hatton plays Gonzala (switched from Gonzalo), counselor to shipwrecked king Alonso.
“She is the play’s voice of conscience,” Hatton said.
Changing the character’s gender allowed a romantic attraction between Gonzala and Alonso to develop.
“They have a flirtatious moment, not in the original play,” Hatton said. “When Alonso is fearful and grieving … Gonzala flirts with him to try to lift his spirits.”
Changing the gender of Shakespearean characters has become commonplace — Julie Taymor cast Helen Mirren as Prospera in her 2010 film version.
Columbus resident Cathy Treyens, who’s seen Schiller Park shows for about 25 years, found Harewood’s version intriguing when she saw it recently with a friend.
“It was fascinating and disturbing — and I thought it worked,” said Treyens, 58. “Changing Prospero to female was fine, while I found the break-up of Ariel into three different personas enriched that character.”
Since the end of World War II, “The Tempest” has been analyzed through the lens of post-colonial theory in a few politically conscious productions.
“We’re doing one interpretation with a lot of different ideas that may, in some ways, contradict themselves, but the nature of human interaction is almost always contradictory,” Harewood said.
“I’d like for people to be able to walk away with questions about responsibility, about ownership, about family.”