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BROMWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (214) Telephone: Mr. Jonathan Wolfer, Principal |
The Story of Prospero This is an experimental piece, taking solilioquies and some other bits from The Tempest to tell the beginning, middle and end of the story of the great magician, Prospero. Three actors take turns portraying Prospero and Ariel, his magical servant, and while there are some dramatic exchanges, there is much more of poetry and ritual. Costume, props: Each actor should have a magical robe, perhaps with a hood, for Prospero. Underneath, each should have some costume -- highlighted by silver or gold or silvery blue -- to suggest the magical nature of the sprite, Ariel. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Prospero 1: The hour's now come... Prospero 2: The very minute bids thee ope thine ear... Prospero 3: Obey and be attentive. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Prospero 1: I was the Duke of Milan, and a prince of power. The government I cast upon my brother And to my state grew stranger, being transported And rapt in secret studies. Prospero 2: My false brother awaked an evil nature; he did believe he was indeed the duke. Me, poor man, my library was dukedom large enough. I thus neglecting all worldly ends, all dedicated to closeness and the bettering of my mind. Prospero 3: The King of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit; The ministers for the purpose hurried thence they hurried me aboard a bark, Bore me some leagues to sea; where they prepared A rotten carcass of a boat. Prospero 1: Some food I had and some fresh water that A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, did give me. Knowing I loved my books, he furnish'd me From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom. Prospero 2: Here in this island I arrived; and here By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune, Now, hath mine enemies Brought to this shore. Prospero 3: I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop. Prospero 1: Come away, servant, come. I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come! Ariel 3: All hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality. Prospero 1: Hast thou, spirit, Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee? Ariel 3: To every article. I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement. The most mighty Neptune Seem'd to besiege and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake. Prospero 1: My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason? Ariel 3: Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad and play'd Some tricks of desperation. All Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel. Prospero 1: But are they, Ariel, safe? Ariel 2: Not a hair perish'd; On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before: and, as thou badest me, In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the isle. Prospero 1: Ariel, thy charge Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work. Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject To no sight but thine and mine, invisible To every eyeball else. Go take this shape And hither come in't: go, hence with diligence! Ariel 2: I go, I go. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Prospero 2: My high charms work And these mine enemies are all knit up In their distractions; they now are in my power. Now does my project gather to a head: My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and time Goes upright with his carriage. Say, my spirit, How fares the king and's followers? Ariel 1: Confined together In the same fashion as you gave in charge, Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir, In the line-grove which weather-fends your cell; They cannot budge till your release. The king, His brother and yours, abide all three distracted And the remainder mourning over them, Brimful of sorrow and dismay. Your charm so strongly works 'em That if you now beheld them, your affections Would become tender. Prospero 2: Dost thou think so, spirit? Ariel 1: Mine would, sir, were I human. Prospero 2: And mine shall. Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions, and shall not myself, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply, Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Prospero 3: Though with their high wrongs I am struck to the quick, Yet with my nobler reason 'gaitist my fury Do I take part: the rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance: they being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further. Prospero 2: Go release them, Ariel: My charms I'll break, their senses I'll restore, And they shall be themselves. Ariel 1: I'll fetch them, sir. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Prospero 3: Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, And ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing Neptune and do fly him When he comes back... Prospero 2: You demi-puppets that By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites, and you whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew... Prospero 3: By whose aid, Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimm'd The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds, And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault Set roaring war... Prospero 1: To the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak with his own bolt... Prospero 3: The strong-based promontory Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up The pine and cedar... Prospero 2: Graves at my command Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth... All: By my so! potent! art! Prospero 3: But this rough magic I here abjure, and, when I have required Some heavenly music... All: Which even now I do... Prospero 3: To work mine end upon their senses that this airy charm is for... Prospero 1: I'll break my staff... Prospero 2: Bury it certain fathoms in the earth... Prospero 3: And deeper than did ever plummet sound... All: I'll drown my book.
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