On the winds of a rough storm out at sea comes Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” directed by professor Leonard Kelly. The original debut of “The Tempest” consisted of an all-male cast. The only female character written in the show is Miranda, who would have been portrayed by a man as well. This tradition of casting men in female roles eventually died out throughout the centuries, allowing female actors to play the female roles like Miranda. But the fact that many of Shakespeare’s characters are male still remains and does not give enough women the opportunity to perform classical text.
Theatre companies like West Chester University’s Department of Theatre and Dance are catching on to the increasingly popular trend of changing Shakespearean characters that were once male and turning them into female roles.
When asked about this modern vision for the casting process, Kelly stated, “The issues of women in Shakespeare and how women can claim their place in Shakespeare is a big conversation in the larger theatre community. We wanted to investigate that idea with this production and find a way that was interesting and not arbitrary to bring women’s voices into the play. We changed Alonzo the King to Alonsa the Queen who had a son. This gives a nice balance against Prospero and daughter, so now we have a father-daughter and mother-son relationship.”
The addition of the Queen to the play gave reason for more characters to make a transition and become female as well. According to Kelly, “We decided to make Gonzala a woman as well because we made the assumption, maybe correctly or incorrectly, that the Queen’s closest friend and most trusted advisor would also be a woman. We then thought it would be interesting to see what happens if we create Stephano as a women that challenges the gender constraints of her own time. Stephano is a male character being played by a woman. So we are still negotiating whether Stephano is male or female. We are not trying to hide the fact that this is a man played by a women.”
The cast now includes 15 women and nine men. Julie Peterson, a junior theatre major at WCU, plays Alonsa. When asked about the experience of playing a newly feminized character, Peterson said, “My favorite part of it is the relationship between my character, Alonsa, and Megan Fitzwater’s character, Gonzala. Taking what was originally a king and his advisor and changing it to a Queen and her trusted friend shows the importance of strong female relationships, even when you don’t always agree. It’s also interesting to explore the mother-son relationship that was previously father-son. The gender switch easily counters Prospero and Miranda’s father-daughter relationship.”
Fitzwater, a junior theatre major and marketing major plays Gonzala and added to Peterson’s sentiments, stating that, “Playing a role as a woman that was originally intended as a man has actually created a different relationship between the four royals. Suddenly the relationship between the boys, Antonio and Sebastian, and the girls, Alonsa and Gonzala, take on more of a rivalry with the battle of the sexes. I believe it strengthens Gonzala’s relationship with Alonsa and creates a different type of relationship than if we were men.”
Along with giving women more opportunities, this production is full of incredible exploration for student and faculty designers. The play includes elements of magic and fantasy, and the production team is working tirelessly to create these elements in a new and exciting way. Some of these technical elements include prosthetics, wigs and masks.
Becca Calabrese, a senior theatre major, is the music director and composer for the show. She wrote all-original music that reflects the magical qualities of the play using the Shakespearian text. When asked about her process, Calabrese stated, “Some of the musical themes I wrote came about from the cast playing around with different musical exercises,” which she then used to compose the pieces.
Further commenting on the music, Calabrese stated, “A lot of the music is written in a round to reflect the groupings of three throughout the play. This reflects the three goddesses, the character Ariel, who is now played by three actors and even the three seating banks in the theatre.”
All the musical accompaniment will be played on stage by the cast throughout the duration of the play.
Over the past few weeks, Kelly, the actors and the production staff used this classical piece of text and transformed it into an immersive fantastical experience that any member of the audience, well versed in Shakespeare or not, will enjoy. WCU’s production of “The Tempest” will run for two weekends on the MainStage Theatre in the E.O. Bull Center for the Arts: Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9 and Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April16. Shows are at 8:00 pm with a matinee on Sunday, April 10 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online at wcupa.edu/TheatreDanceTickets.
Olivia Damore is a student majoring in Musical Theatre with a minor in English Writing. OD805556@wcupa.edu