Shakespeare in Performance: Film
The Tempest (1979, John Gorrie)
| Title | The Tempest |
|---|---|
| Year | 1979 |
| Release Locations | GB |
| Director | John Gorrie |
| Medium | Color video |
| Length | 2 hrs, 5 mins |
| Audience | college and university general public |
| Play Connections | The Tempest (teleplay) |
| Series | The Shakespeare Plays |
Description
Director John Gorrie took the Doré illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy as a model for the island settings of his production. The result is a bleak, stark rather arid kind of island, which is curiously lacking in the sounds of the sea. One yearns for the gull cries that make the seacoast scenes in the BBC Pericles come aurally alive. The brevity of The Tempest, one of Shakespeare's shortest plays, made the need for textual changes minimal. There was some discussion about giving Prospero's speech to Caliban at 1.2.351 to Miranda, which is so harsh in tone as to seem out of character for Miranda. It was decided, however, to stick with the Peter Alexander text, which is essentially the 1623 Folio version. In Derek Jarman's 1980 film treatment of The Tempest (see 622), Toyah Willcox plays a Miranda who might well have been capable of speaking these often disputed lines (KSR)
Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14
Cast Overview
Production Team and Crew Overview
Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell