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Bard on the Beach's production of ‘The Tempest*

By Brittney MacDonald, Senior Columnist

ard on the Beach has been in full swing since early July, entertaining

countless Vancouverites and visitors. This season's lineup includes

the Shakespearean classic, The Tempest, but audience members

familiar with the play might notice something a tad different about
the cast of characters. Tempest director, Meg Roe has chosen to reinterpret two
of the male characters as female, turning the comedic Stephano and Trinculo
into sisters, Stephana and Trincula. While the change might seem minor,
especially since it does not concern any of the major roles, is has altered the
power dynamics found in the original text—though whether this might be good
or bad is a matter of opinion.

In the original text, the male duo are drunks who serve as comedic relief
between scenes of Prospero masterminding his return to Naples from his exile
on an unnamed island. They meet Caliban, a hideous monster of a man who
Prospero keeps as a slave. Exploiting Caliban’s knowledge of the island and his
hatred of his master, Stephano devises a plan to kill Prospero, take over the
island, and marry Prospero’s beautiful daughter, Miranda, promising Trinculo
and Caliban that they will be his seconds-in-command. Ultimately their

_ foolishness and greed are their downfall, as Prospero devises a trap baited with
riches and fine clothes, and all three are captured.

Roe’ es not differ much from the original text, though naturally

 somea ad to be made. Stephana is not motivated to make Miranda

 

her queen, but is still drunk through most of the narrative, and does still want
to kill Prospero to take over the island with the help of her sister, Trincula, and
Caliban. Their capture also remains the same.

What is different is how the pair interacts with the majority of the other
characters. Originally, Stephano and Trinculo are the king’s butler and servant.
In Roe’s version Stephana is the king’s brother’s mistress, and Trincula is her
sister. This change is not large, and is barely mentioned in the production; but as
Sebastian, the King of Naples’ brother, momentarily contemplates regicide, the
fact he has a mistress just makes him seem all the more evil, when in the original
text he appears more of a gullible idiot.

Of greater significance are the changes to Stephana and Trincula’s
interactions with Caliban. As I mentioned before, in the original text it seems
that the pair are exploiting Caliban by getting him drunk and then promising
to kill his much-hated master, Prospero. In Roe’s version the physical comedy
of the threesome takes on far more sexual connotations, as Stephana develops a
foot-licking fetish and Trincula becomes jealous of all the pleasurable attention
her sister receives from Caliban.

Caliban is not costumed as deformed or monstrous in any way, and caresses
and licks Stephana’s legs and feet whenever they talk about her possibly taking
over the island. This gives the illusion that he is coaxing her into killing his
master, giving Caliban a level of agency that is absent in the original text. In the