Production Notes
Solar Tempest
Characters
(5 females/4 males/4 neutral)
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PROSPERO
MIRANDA ALONZO FREDERICK BETA TONI ZOLA ARIEL CALIBAN SV10 TRINK CAPTAIN OFFICER |
A scientist/sorcerer in exile
His daughter Premier of the Planet Nillam Alonzo’s son Alonzo’s second eldest daughter Alonzo’s youngest daughter The governess A spirit, Prospero’s servant A monster, Prospero’s slave The ship’s domestic android Frederick’s android |
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TIME PLACE |
The Future Prospero’s Uncharted Planet |
Creating a Planetoid
A planetoid is better created through light and sound than through canvas and paint. The manmade structures—the spacecraft and Prospero’s cell—can be effectively suggested with subtlety and imagination. A small upstage platform might be used for secondary action, such as Prospero and Ariel’s observances, as well as Toni and Beta’s quibbling over shoes; perhaps the figure of Sycorax can appear there during Caliban’s description of her. Costumes might be ultra-sleek and modern, or they might harken back to the days of ten-cent comic books and matinee double features. The terrain can range from Martian to scrub oak to exotic rain forest. Delineations of acts and scenes are literary only; the action should run continuously, pausing only for the intermission.
Forbidden Planet
"Halfway through adapting The Tempest, I decided I'd better see exactly how unoriginal the idea was. Lo and behold, the first thing I ran into on Google was the sci-fi cult classic Forbidden Planet,... which I've even seen! I loved it. It's a great movie. I just never before realized that it's The Tempest. Well, it most certainly is an adaptation of Shakespeare's play, and a darn good one at that. It takes a very different turn, however, than does mine, most notably in the characterization of Prospero. Whereas the movie likens Prospero to Dr. Faustus, recklessly devoting himself to science at all costs, my Prospero struggles to balance vendetta with forgiveness. In the characterization of Beta and Toni, incidentally, I must admit that I truly am guilty of blantanly borrowing 'inspiration' from another classic movie: My Man Godfrey."
—August Mergelman
