'Tis new to thee/my music for free ...

[saavedra77]

So, I went to see an outdoor performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest, in Volunteer Park, on Sunday: the temperature was in the low '80s, the music was African-accented (lots of drums), the staging kind of vaudevillian.  The play's Prospero was unfortunately uninspiring, its Caliban merely sulky, but Miranda was a charmer, and Ariel positively flew.

Now, to me, this play's finest moment is when the sheltered Miranda discovers human society for the first time, marveling:

Oh wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is!  O brave new world
That has such people in’t!

And Prospero replies ruefully:

‘Tis new to thee.

But I'm a rueful kind of guy.  :-) 

This time through, though, I was entertained to note the parallel language in what you might call Shakespeare's take on online file sharing in The Tempest:

This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where
I shall have my music for nothing.

Also, too bad the production company hadn't seen this article in time to plan the production, accordingly: it would have been amusing to see the play performed in that ol' fashioned Elizabethan twang ....

Comments

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

That's funny -- I think The Tempest is the only work of Shakespeare I've read all the way through, and I don't remember noticing his retort. Now I'm tempted to use that for my journal title or something.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

It's one of Stephano's drunken rants. If I have a moment to consult my Riverside, later on, I'll cite you chapter and verse. :-)

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

The Tempest, III.ii, verses 144-145.

[sarrabellum.livejournal.com]

Sorry we didn't get back to you. Yesterday was my birthday, so we spent parts of the weekend doing birthday things. We also had not one but two floods in the garage (originating in the washing machine area), and dealing with that took a lot of time.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

That's OK: I hope that you at least mostly had fun on your birthday! Sorry about the garage flooding ... sounds like a smelly mess ...

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

I really need to see more Shakespeare; I don't have enough of the Bard in my life.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Well, Greenstage plans to put on a number of other plays by the bard, this summer--I think they're even doing the Tempest again, at some point:

http://www.greenstage.org/

Why not get some sun with your blank verse? :-)

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

*giggle* I think Seattle is a wee bit out of my way (not that I wouldn't want to travel to that part of the West coast some time). But DC does have decent Shakespeare, I just need actual $$ to fund my theatre desires.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

Silly me, I took you for another local: Guilt by association, I suppose--we seem to know some of the same people ... :-)

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

No problem. ;o)

[aztecson23.livejournal.com]

That is a really cool exchange. I think I gotta read it (Oh . . . you know what? I am thinking about getting a masters in english before going to law school, and I was looking at the comprehensive exam readings for the M.A.; "The Tempest" is on there . . . so I will definitely have to read it within the next 2.5 years.

[saavedra77.livejournal.com]

You go, man! Follow your passion!