Reviews for The Tempest

The average rating for The Tempest based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-03-24 00:00:00 Sharon Simmons The Tempest, abridged. *or maybe not so abridged. But in my defense, this play is really fucking complicated* MIRANDA: So, um, Daddy, did you notice that huge-ass storm that just crashed a ship on the shore of our previously deserted island? PROSPERO: Wow, is it exposition time already? Okay, kiddo, listen up: I used to be the duke of Milan, but then my asshole brother and the King of Naples put you and me on a boat and we ended up here on Wherever-The-Hell-Island, but luckily it's full of spirits who apparently didn't have anything better to do, so I made them crash the boat, which holds my brother, the king, his son, and some other guys. Now I will exact my revenge...somehow. MIRANDA: *is asleep* PROSPERO: Works every time. Hey, Ariel! ARIEL: Hi, great and noble master! Am I allowed to stop being your magical slave yet? I mean, twelve years of service... PROSPERO: Don't be silly. So did you separate all the wreck survivors like I told you? ARIEL: Yep! So, seriously, you said you were going to free me like five years ago... PROSPERO: Cool. Go torment Caliban for a while, wouldja? CALIBAN: GAAARRRFNARGLERAAAHSYCORAX *teethgnash* *hey, let's see what everyone else is doing! And good luck keeping track of who's who!* FERDINAND: Hey, I'm the king's son, and you're fucking hot. MIRANDA: Thanks! And since the only two men I've ever seen are my dad and a deformed monster, I can only assume that you are also hot. FERDINAND: We should totally get married. Only if you're a virgin, though. MIRANDA: What's that? FERDINAND: Oh man, I hit the fucking jackpot. ANTONIO: So, we should probably kill the king now. SEBASTIAN: Sure thing. ARIEL: *MAGICSMASH!* Bibbity bobbity boo! Scared shitless now are you! TRINCULO: Hey everbody, I'm tanked out of my mind, and therefore hilarious. STEPHANO: Me too! Oh, what silly hijinks we will get up to! CALIBAN: Glorious foreigners! Help me overthrow my cruel imperialist master, I beg of you! STEPHANO: Wait, I don't get it. One minute you're gross and creepy, and then you get all eloquent and sympathetic. TRINCULO: Yeah, are you supposed to represent Shakespeare's approval or disapproval of colonization? CALIBAN: NO TIME FOR ANALYSIS THE FAIRIES ARE PINCHING ME AGAIN. *they attempt a takeover. Thanks to Ariel,it fails. Hilariously.* PROSPERO: So, I guess everything turned out okay! Now to ceremoniously discard my magic staff and book, in a gesture that will cause endless debate in the future over whether this represents Shakespeare's withdrawal from the playwrighting world! HISTORIANS AND ENGLISH MAJORS: GAAAAAH WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN!? SHAKESPEARE: Hey, I had to take time off for my hobbies. All those personal papers and concrete proof that I existed aren't gonna burn themselves, you know. HISTORIANS AND ENGLISH MAJORS: *facedesk* THE END. Read for: Perspectives on Literature

Review # 2 was written on 2007-05-12 00:00:00 Brandon Low Simple yet profound, The Tempest is a heartbreakingly sincere piece of elaborate theatrical artifice. Shakespeare is a magician at the height of his powers, so accomplished at his craft that he can reveal the mechanisms of his most marvelous tricks and still astonish us. This time through, I was struck by how closely references to language, freedom, power and transformation are bound up together, and how they all seem to point to some metaphysical resolution, even if they don't finally achieve it. But perhaps--by the power of Prospero's staff-- they do?