The Tempest (Sourcebooks Shakespeare) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sourcebooks Shakespeare | Publication Date: June 1, 2008

More than 60 minutes of audio on the CD including over 20 classic scenes and excerpts from famous performances past and present
The Sourcebooks Shakespeare brings THE TEMPEST to life in a revolutionary new book and audio CD format
In the Book:
Photographs from notable productions including:

• Vanessa Redgrave as Prospero from the 2000 production at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London
• Ian McKellen as Prospero and Claudie Blakely as Miranda from the 1999 West Yorkshire Playhouse production
• Patrick Stewart as Prospero from the 1995 Joseph Papp Public Theater production (New York City)

Hear 23 great scenes on audio CD:
Memorable performances by Ian McKellen (Naxos Audiobooks, 2004), William Hutt (The CBC Stratford Festival Reading Series, 1998), Donald Wolfit (Living Shakespeare, 1962), Adrian Lester, Jennifer Ehle, and Simon Russell Beale (The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare, 2003)
Narrated By Sir Derek Jacobi

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Ormsby received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2005. Besides essays on Canadian performances of classical drama (Toronto Slavic Quarterly, May, 2003; Shakespeare Bulletin, Summer 2004), his publications include Descriptive Entries of Folger Library collection prompt-books for Coriolanus productions by John Philip Kemble, Samuel Phelps and Henry Irving (The Shakespeare Collection) and a review of Shakespeare and the Force of Modern Performance by W.B. Worthen. (Renaissance Quarterly, Summer 2004).

David Bevington is the Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in Humanities at the University of Chicago. A renowned text scholar, he has edited several Shakespeare editions including the Bantam Shakespeare in individual paperback volumes, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Longman, 2003) and Troilus and Cressida (Arden, 1998). He teaches courses in Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama and Medieval Drama.

Peter Holland is the McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies at the University of Notre Dame. One of the central figures in performance-oriented Shakespeare criticism, he has also edited many Shakespeare plays, including A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Oxford Shakespeare series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks MediaFusion; 1 Pap/Com edition (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402208332
• ISBN-13: 978-1402208331
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,050,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Flawed But Entertaining Edition of 'The Tempest', September 2, 2008

By 

jim peterson (oakland, ca United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Tempest (Sourcebooks Shakespeare) (Paperback)

This is a worthwhile edition of "The Tempest" in spite of its flaws, omissions, and limitations. The "Note from Series Editors" lays out clearly its unique features and gives some helpful hints on how to get the most out of them. The CD included provides at least two and sometimes three versions of ten passages taken from four productions, ranging from a 1962 recording with Donald Wolfit to a recent recording with Ian McKellan. The illustrations are numerous and include photographs taken from a score of modern productions, though a few of these are so small that it's impossible to see much detail.

Though Derek Jacobi narrates the CD, his critically acclaimed Prospero is here represented only by a single photo in the book; he is never heard as Prospero. Richard Preiss, the text editor, in his introductory essay on the history of the play in the theatre, refers to John Gielgud as 'the greatest modern interpreter of the role', yet there is not even a single appearance of Sir John either audially or visually. And not one of the many songs in the play is on the CD.

The layout of the book is very attractive. The text of the play is on right-hand pages, the glosses, production notes, and illustrations on the left. Different typefaces are used for stage directions (italic), character names and speech headings (all caps), and speeches (plain); along with plenty of white space, this makes the text easy on the eye. Preiss explains in a note "About the Text" that all versions of this play are ultimately based on the version in the Shakespeare Folio (1623). I noticed several misprints and some omissions of a word or two, the most serious of which is the omission of two short speeches between what in this edition are lines 70 - 71 of Act Two, Scene One:

GONZALO
This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.
[ADRIAN
Carthage?
GONZALO
I assure you, Carthage.]
ANTONIO
His word is more than the miraculous harp.

Most of the commentary is clear and helpful, but at least one note on the words 'So, you're paid' in this scene is so completely muddled that it would take up too much space in this review to unmuddle it.

There is also a gaff in the narration on the CD. Sir Derek is made to refer to the character of Ferdinand as 'the usurping Duke of Milan's son' - he's actually listed correctly in the Dramatis Personae as 'son to the King of Naples.'

Preiss's essay on stage history is only one of several included to supplement the commentary on the play. There is an essay on the rehearsal of the play by inmates as part of the Shakespeare Behind Bars program, supplemented by excerpts from interviews with two of the inmates who played Prospero and Miranda on the CD. There is also a survey of the play's influence on the arts and popular culture. Some pretty obscure items are included here, like an opera by Havely, and some pretty dubious ones, like 'Gilligan's Island', while, perhaps inevitably, some more interesting or relevant items are not. Also included is a brief account of Shakespeare's life and times, and a discussion on 'Speaking Shakespeare.' On the CD is a recording of a voice coach working with an actor on a soliloquy from the play.

But whatever it's shortcomings, this edition of 'The Tempest' is informative and even entertaining and has much to offer to anyone interested in getting to know the play or getting to know it better.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prompt service, appealing text, September 6, 2010

By 

Ron Palumbo (Ames, IA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Tempest (Sourcebooks Shakespeare) (Paperback)

Received promptly. Don't recall that description indicated that CD was missing. Very readable and inviting lay-out of text. Will use this Shakespeare series again.