2024 The Tempest - Directed by Pascal Tibbits

Set at the Te Puna Quarry Park Amphitheatre in February of 2024.

Shakespeare’s story of an exiled ruler who uses magic to restore a legacy for her daughter, bringing the betrayers to justice and finally displaying mercy and forgiveness. Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, uses magic and her sprites to conjure a tempest, to torment the crew and passengers of a passing ship holding the Queen of Naples and Prospero’s treacherous brother, Antonio. After an apparent dramatic shipwreck, the survivors wander the isle being led astray by imaginings. Prospero’s slave, Caliban joins with two foolish crew and plots to rid himself of his mistress. The Queen’s young son Ferdinand, presumed lost at sea, falls in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda, but the celebrations are cut short when Prospero confronts her brother revealing her identity as the usurped Duke of Milan. The families are reunited, and all conflict is resolved. Prospero grants Ariel freedom and prepares to leave the island along with her magic.

The Directors Note:

I've always been drawn towards the escapism of all performance art but in particular Shakespeare's The Tempest. An epic and rollicking journey in the space of one day. At 16, I played Caliban in my first full production, 35 years on, my own son throws himself into this despicable character. There is no greater joy than creation, as director I have seen every inch of this play in vivid color well before our actors had dreamed it. Now it is their turn to make it their own....