While the techniques available to directors have advanced considerably since then, recreating Shakespeare’s vision in a live theatre performance has always remained a challenge. Written just six years before his death, it has more stage directions than any of Shakespeare’s other plays.Įven when performed during Shakespeare’s life, the play was a feast of special effects and backstage technology: wheels of canvas spun at high speed and fireworks were used to recreate the sounds of a raging storm trapdoors made characters disappear false tabletops made props vanish and cast members were carried aloft by elaborate pulley systems. Packed with dramatic storms, a shipwreck and powerful magic, it is perhaps one of the trickiest of the playwright’s works to translate from the page to the stage. ![]() ‘On a ship at sea: a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard.’ From this opening stage direction of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, it is clear that the audience is in for a night of electrifying special effects to match the actors’ performances. Technology journalist Richard Gray spoke to Sarah Ellis, Director of Digital Development at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Ben Lumsden, Head of Studio at Imaginarium, and Tawny Schlieski, Director of Desktop Research at Intel, about how cutting-edge technology has brought the magic and spectacle to life on stage. William Shakespeare’s The Tempest is a fantastical play that features illusion and otherworldly beings. ![]() ![]() Motion-capture technology is used to turn the actor’s movements into an animation that flies, spins and whizzes around the stage © Intel In the Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest production of The Tempest, the character of Ariel is partly recreated as a digital avatar while the actor performs live on stage (right of image).
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