A Playful Play—What an Idea! — THE TEMPEST by HSF
Last night I had the pleasure to preview The Tempest, the first production of the 2011 season of the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival. The story of daughter and deposed Duke of Milan’s magical tempest–induced encounter with the wise guys from back home on their nearly deserted island (four residents in all, including a monster son-of-a-witch and a magic spirit) counts as one of Shakespeare's final (if not last) plays, and falls in the category of partly stormy with a happy ending, otherwise known as tragicomedy or romance.
There is only one place to begin when talking about this particular production, and that is with the puppets. It’s a puppet’s world on “an island” in “the sea”—labels scribed across the maplike floor that is the stage. The puppets are gorgeous and detailed, each one a truly unique creation (by Sandra Finney) from head to strapped foot (unless they have no feet). A big part of the excitement watching the show comes in waiting for the next new character (all puppets) to arrive on the scene. There are no disappointments. My favorite was third to enter—Ariel (voiced by Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak and maneuvered by Ryan Stanfield), all white gossamer and sparkle—pure magic, especially because the puppeteer is masterful at manipulating this “brave spirit,” down to the slightest tilt of head or tip of hand, as she flies on and off the scene accompanied by her very own enchanting melody (played on the flute by the hidden Tracy Hanayo Okubo). It seemed as if the puppet might have been made with the actor in mind (or the other way around?). The effect was delightful.
The puppets are voiced by actors sitting in the corners of the small theatre, with all but the Ariel actor taking on multiple voices. The choices for voice to puppet worked very well overall. There were scenes where I thought that some of the delivery could have used a touch more energy and variety, especially since the puppets aren't always doing all that much, but that may simply be a pitfall of actors reading long monologues while seated. Perhaps if they could stand, move, gesticulate fully, the vocal energy required to carry the density of Shakespeare's language would be easier to come by, but that would also be distracting, taking away from rather than adding to the allure of the puppets. On the other hand, the puppets’ often extravagant “physicality” does much of the “translation” work usually needed for a modern audience to really get what’s happening all the time. Only once or twice throughout the entire play did I find myself lost in a sea of voices and puppets, not quite sure which belonged to which, and it lasted just a moment either time.
The Caliban-Trinculo-Stephano scenes are the comedic highlights of the play, and the laugh-out-loud antics actually serve to heighten the moments of pity and compassion for the enslaved “monster” in search of freedom from tyranny. The character of Caliban (voiced by Eden-Lee Murray and maneuvered by Bronte Amoy and Nilva Panimdim), like Ariel—though more reptilian-terrestrial—comes together seamlessly. Walter Eccles (voice of Stephano and Sebastian) brings both his characters to life with energetic delivery, an excellent match with the bold puppet work by Cheyne Gallarde and Morgan Lane. In these scenes especially, the space between script, puppet/puppeteer, and actor often merged in such a way as to transcend the original text, finding humor within and beyond the words of the Bard, an irreverence well played in such a playful production.
A playful play—what an idea! Maybe that's why something about the puppets' movements reminded me of Pixar's Toy Story movies. The skillful ninja puppeteers (kuroko, if you're into kabuki or bunraku) play with their puppets and the audience must play along, engaging our imaginations like we did as children when our toys “came to life.” Sure you could watch and look for small missteps or awkward movements by the puppeteers (not that there are many) but what would be the joy in that? It’s much easier—and more satisfying—to be enchanted.
Some further highlights include everything magical, from the simple beauty of juggled light-as-a-feather handkerchiefs to the head- and hand-donned pack of hound-spirit puppets to the levitation of characters into the thin air of the theatre when haunted by dark Ariel. The love story between Miranda (Sharon R. Garcia Doyle/Jordan Matayoshi, Sky Okimoto) and Ferdinand (Q/Marielle Hansen, Kim Ip), which I’ve seen in other versions of this play come off as corny, boring, or both, is handled with Disney-like humor that really works with the animation quality of the show. Overall, the comedy was played up in this production, with many of the non-comedic sections streamlined through editing, though moments of poignancy remained.
Prospero, voiced by Moses Goods (with Nicole Tessier and Maseeh Ganjali as puppeteers), has the role of puppetmaster as he manipulates the main events of the play through his spirit-subject Ariel. His turn to peace and forgiveness in light of Ariel's influence is staged with just the right amount of levity as Prospero becomes aware of his own deficiency—a incident when the “puppet" schools the “master"; and his final moment with Caliban has a nice balance between tension and climactic release. The relationship between Prospero and Ariel is one of the most interesting in the play, though in this production I was left with questions as to its full nature. Prospero’s final moment on stage, which I'll save for a secret, was very effective at tying the entire show together, simple, strange, clever, and—dare I use the word again—magical, all at once. Or, anti-magical, maybe.
This production of The Tempest is brave, inventive, playful, funny, whimsical, and touching. I've mentioned certain voice actors and puppeteers, but really, this play is not star-centered. It works so well because of the collaboration and cooperation of many artists playing together, creating a wonderful world with its own kind of reality and synchronicity—a puppet's world, where it ceases to matter who is providing the voice, who is moving the hand, who is working the lights, because the overall effect is to believe in puppets, without masters.
The Tempest is directed by R. Kevin Garcia Doyle. For further information and a full cast list, go to the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival Website: http://hawaiishakes.org/11season.htm#Play1
Photos taken from Sandra Finney's album TEMPEST Process Continued on facebook.
There is only one place to begin when talking about this particular production, and that is with the puppets. It’s a puppet’s world on “an island” in “the sea”—labels scribed across the maplike floor that is the stage. The puppets are gorgeous and detailed, each one a truly unique creation (by Sandra Finney) from head to strapped foot (unless they have no feet). A big part of the excitement watching the show comes in waiting for the next new character (all puppets) to arrive on the scene. There are no disappointments. My favorite was third to enter—Ariel (voiced by Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak and maneuvered by Ryan Stanfield), all white gossamer and sparkle—pure magic, especially because the puppeteer is masterful at manipulating this “brave spirit,” down to the slightest tilt of head or tip of hand, as she flies on and off the scene accompanied by her very own enchanting melody (played on the flute by the hidden Tracy Hanayo Okubo). It seemed as if the puppet might have been made with the actor in mind (or the other way around?). The effect was delightful. The puppets are voiced by actors sitting in the corners of the small theatre, with all but the Ariel actor taking on multiple voices. The choices for voice to puppet worked very well overall. There were scenes where I thought that some of the delivery could have used a touch more energy and variety, especially since the puppets aren't always doing all that much, but that may simply be a pitfall of actors reading long monologues while seated. Perhaps if they could stand, move, gesticulate fully, the vocal energy required to carry the density of Shakespeare's language would be easier to come by, but that would also be distracting, taking away from rather than adding to the allure of the puppets. On the other hand, the puppets’ often extravagant “physicality” does much of the “translation” work usually needed for a modern audience to really get what’s happening all the time. Only once or twice throughout the entire play did I find myself lost in a sea of voices and puppets, not quite sure which belonged to which, and it lasted just a moment either time.
The Caliban-Trinculo-Stephano scenes are the comedic highlights of the play, and the laugh-out-loud antics actually serve to heighten the moments of pity and compassion for the enslaved “monster” in search of freedom from tyranny. The character of Caliban (voiced by Eden-Lee Murray and maneuvered by Bronte Amoy and Nilva Panimdim), like Ariel—though more reptilian-terrestrial—comes together seamlessly. Walter Eccles (voice of Stephano and Sebastian) brings both his characters to life with energetic delivery, an excellent match with the bold puppet work by Cheyne Gallarde and Morgan Lane. In these scenes especially, the space between script, puppet/puppeteer, and actor often merged in such a way as to transcend the original text, finding humor within and beyond the words of the Bard, an irreverence well played in such a playful production.A playful play—what an idea! Maybe that's why something about the puppets' movements reminded me of Pixar's Toy Story movies. The skillful ninja puppeteers (kuroko, if you're into kabuki or bunraku) play with their puppets and the audience must play along, engaging our imaginations like we did as children when our toys “came to life.” Sure you could watch and look for small missteps or awkward movements by the puppeteers (not that there are many) but what would be the joy in that? It’s much easier—and more satisfying—to be enchanted.
Some further highlights include everything magical, from the simple beauty of juggled light-as-a-feather handkerchiefs to the head- and hand-donned pack of hound-spirit puppets to the levitation of characters into the thin air of the theatre when haunted by dark Ariel. The love story between Miranda (Sharon R. Garcia Doyle/Jordan Matayoshi, Sky Okimoto) and Ferdinand (Q/Marielle Hansen, Kim Ip), which I’ve seen in other versions of this play come off as corny, boring, or both, is handled with Disney-like humor that really works with the animation quality of the show. Overall, the comedy was played up in this production, with many of the non-comedic sections streamlined through editing, though moments of poignancy remained.
Prospero, voiced by Moses Goods (with Nicole Tessier and Maseeh Ganjali as puppeteers), has the role of puppetmaster as he manipulates the main events of the play through his spirit-subject Ariel. His turn to peace and forgiveness in light of Ariel's influence is staged with just the right amount of levity as Prospero becomes aware of his own deficiency—a incident when the “puppet" schools the “master"; and his final moment with Caliban has a nice balance between tension and climactic release. The relationship between Prospero and Ariel is one of the most interesting in the play, though in this production I was left with questions as to its full nature. Prospero’s final moment on stage, which I'll save for a secret, was very effective at tying the entire show together, simple, strange, clever, and—dare I use the word again—magical, all at once. Or, anti-magical, maybe.
This production of The Tempest is brave, inventive, playful, funny, whimsical, and touching. I've mentioned certain voice actors and puppeteers, but really, this play is not star-centered. It works so well because of the collaboration and cooperation of many artists playing together, creating a wonderful world with its own kind of reality and synchronicity—a puppet's world, where it ceases to matter who is providing the voice, who is moving the hand, who is working the lights, because the overall effect is to believe in puppets, without masters.
The Tempest is directed by R. Kevin Garcia Doyle. For further information and a full cast list, go to the Hawaii Shakespeare Festival Website: http://hawaiishakes.org/11season.htm#Play1
Photos taken from Sandra Finney's album TEMPEST Process Continued on facebook.
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