Three Adaptations

Summary

The Old Vic’s production of The Tempest: or the Enchanted Island in June 1959 was intended to honour the tercentenary of the birth of Henry Purcell who, in 1695, composed music for this adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest. But the revival was also timely in that, during the same month, two variously accomplished and modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays were being presented at the Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. So an act of reverence towards one artist, involving careful research and editing, has been the occasion for comparing the ways in which different ages have amplified, altered, and curtailed the work of another.

The text of The Enchanted Island was a collaborative effort. A theatre-manager was the first to see that Miranda's meeting with Ferdinand gave an opportunity for presenting a novel kind of sexual encounter which Shakespeare had not exploited. He enlisted the help of a poet, John Dry den, and their version was performed in November 1667.