Miranda’s Quill

Miranda, Caliban, and Ariel are digging up Prospero’s grave.  They toil as the rain lashes down and they discuss the merits of putting on The Tempest yet again;  Of going through the old motions in new contexts. They are tired of telling Prospero's story,  tired of digging up his grave year after year.  So they agree that just this once, just tonight they will tell the story their way.  Because their author is dead but they're still here, so it's time they got a chance to speak. 

 

Miranda’s Quill is a prequel and a sequel to William Shakespeare’s, The Tempest. It recontextualizes and comments on the original work while not changing a word of the original text. It brings something fresh and exciting, both for people who have never seen The Tempest and for those who are intimately familiar with it.  Where The Tempest was the story of an old man’s last acts before retirement–Prospero’s and potentially Shakespeare’s story–Miranda’s Quill is the story of new beginnings and the rebellions of youth.   

 

The first act is the prequel.  In it, a younger Miranda, Caliban and Ariel are smothered and protected by the forces around them as they grow. A protective mother’s love, the expectations of court, the rules of the fay.  All three begin to push on these boundaries when tragedy strikes.  Prospero and Miranda are banished from their homeland.  Prospero, too proud to accept defeat laying down, sets off to conquer an island kingdom for himself.  Caliban’s mother, Sycorax, sensing Prospero’s approach, catches and binds the innocent Ariel to protect her son.  Prospero and Sycorax fight for control of the island but in the end Prospero is too strong and Sycorax is killed.  He then takes in the newly orphaned Caliban and the newly freed Ariel and raises them alongside Miranda. 

 

The three grow together as friends and almost siblings. They learn what they can from the strict, and often cruel, Prospero.  But one day when Miranda and Caliban are sixteen-years-old, Prospero sees them share a kiss.  He is driven mad with anger and banishes Caliban.  Caliban however, thrives in the wilderness; he speaks to the spirits of the island and to his mother’s shade. When Prospero is convinced to bring Caliban back, the young man is full of anger and recrimination; he calls Prospero a liar and a hypocrite.  Prospero twists him and binds him and orders Miranda never to speak to him again.  But it’s no use and the two remain friends. Prospero hatches a new plan and summons a great tempest. 

 

Act one is the story of disillusionment.  It is the moment that young people realize that their society, their world, even their parents aren’t as perfect or as good as they once believed.  It is a story full of intense passions and dramatic musical moments. 

 

The middle of the play.  Right before intermission, is a brief retelling of The Tempest in song. As it falls between the prequel and the sequel: we call it the “midquel.” 

 

The second act, the sequel, opens right as The Tempest ends.  Miranda sails off with her new fiance, Caliban wakes after his ordeal with the clowns, and Ariel returns to the court of the fairies. Each of them are, in a way, free of Prospero, but each of them are still bound by his legacy and his choices. One by one the young people reclaim their own parts of their father’s magic: Caliban by returning to his roots and rediscovering the self worth Prospero tried to bury, Ariel by wit and trickery, enough to outsmart the fairies And Miranda who finally embraces her power as her father’s daughter and heir, while rejecting the way he wielded his power. They find their way back to the island and agree that together they will start a new story.  A better, more hopeful one than what had come before.  One that was truly their own. 

 

Act two is the story of youthful hope.  It is the feeling of coming into power and the dedication of that power for good. It is the moment when young people realize that they have a lot of say in the future of their world. It is a story full of powerful arias and audience shaking choruses.