Shakespeare Festival 2025
The Tempest
Our 2025 Shakespeare Festival is this Friday, May 2, from 4:30-6:30, followed by a performance of Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. Our third graders will help introduce the play by performing a series of poetic couplets that provide a wonderful introduction to the play. We hope this preview helps you enjoy the show!
The Tempest*
Ladies and gentlemen, please lend your ear,
Shakespeare’s comedy, The Tempest, draws near.
A tale of magic begins to take seed
With a raging storm, it’s a tempest indeed.
I direct you to Europe, off Italy’s coast,
A sorcerer, Prospera, will soon be your host.
As we wait for her arrival, cast over your eyes,
The ship before us is near its demise.
It tosses and heaves in the frenzied sea,
The storm boils with anger, as wild as can be.
The wind howls in fury. Flames smother the ship.
Sails twist and tangle in the tempest’s grip.
Alfonsina, Queen of Naples, hurries along
She comes up to see what has gone wrong.
She bellows the sailors, “Do something, quick!”
The boatswain shouts, “This storm is too thick!”
Ferdinand, the Prince, is in such dismay,
He stumbles on deck in complete disarray.
He and Sebastian, the Queen’s younger brother,
Tremble and cry and cling to each other.
Antonio, a duke, and Gonzalo, a lord,
Fear they will all be washed overboard.
The rigging trembles, the main sail rips
The rudder breaks, and the crow’s nest tips.
With an ear-splitting crack, the mast falls down.
Within minutes, every soul will be drowned.
Beneath the dark waves, the doomed boat sinks.
But! Two figures watch from the rocky chinks.
It is Prospera, the enchanter of this scene,
And her daughter, Miranda, a girl of fifteen.
Miranda wails and cries in despair,
“They’ve all vanished in that storm out there.
My dearest mother, your magic I deplore,
You have caused this awful, terrible uproar.”
“The time,” said Prospera, “has come at last
To tell you our history, the story of our past.
See, I was Milan’s Duchess and ruled with care
You were the princess and my only heir.”
Prospera continued to stare out to sea,
“My brother, Antonio, detested you and me.
He desired my position, my place, and my power,
Ambition turned his affection for me sour.
I was not prepared for such deep hate,
And one night, Antonio unlocked Milan’s gate.
We were pulled from our beds, smuggled to a boat,
A horrible craft that could hardly float.
It was only fate that kept us alive,
Or perhaps only the will to survive!
Whatever it was when our boat ran aground,
The paradise we saw held us spellbound.
We have lived here twelve years, just you and me,
And now, my brother just sailed by on the sea.
The time is right for me to set this straight,
Go to sleep, dear daughter, you are up too late.”
Let’s watch the men, the monsters, the sprites,
Shakespeare’s Tempest is a comedic delight!
*Adapted by Krystal Keener from The Tempest for Kids by Lois Burdett.
