The Tempest

About this Evening

Set on a remote island surrounded only by water, The Tempest tells a tale of man’s love of art and power. In an adaptation by long-time collaborator and writer Sophia Al-Maria, Moved by the Motion take us into a near future, where the sea levels, having risen to the top of the Swiss Alps, have reached apocalyptic levels; leaving the remaining few to confront their humanity. What do we do when everything comes to an end? Do we ask for forgiveness in the hope of change? Do we try until the end to mould the world around us with all our creative powers? Do we choose kindness, revenge, or simply carry on to the end?

With William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the group Moved by the Motion around the artists Wu Tsang, Tosh Basco, Josh Johnson and Asma Maroof are staging a classic of the theatre canon for the first time at the Schauspielhaus Zürich. Carefully and with love for the original, they, together with the ensemble and in collaboration with various AI technologies, interweave Shakespeare’s classic with elements of science fiction, satire and the magical act of theatre itself.

It is believed to be the William Shakespeare’s last act, a farewell of the playwright to the stage before disappearing from the public eye. The main character Prospero, an exiled socerer, is seen as a symbol of Shakespeare himself.

Detailed Cast

Yèinou Avognon
(Miranda – daughter of Prospero)
Marie Goyette
(Antonia – uprising Duke of Milan-X who engineered merger with Napple)
Tabita Johannes
(Ariel – an AI spirit)
Kay Kysela
(Sebastian – brother of Alonso, King of Napple)
Sasha Melroch
(Ferdinand – son of the King of Napple)
Maximilian Reichert
(Gonzalo – an honest old consultant)
Sebastian Rudolph
(Prospero – self-exiled Duke of Milan-X, founder of pioneering AI company)
Steven Sowah
(Alonso – King of Napple)
Thomas Wodianka
(Caliban – original inhabitant of the isle, enslaved by Prospero's technology)

'Shapes' – holographic e-girl chorus
Sycorax – the blue-eyed witch from Algiers, Caliban's mother, the source of the story

About this Play

By Sophia Al-Maria

What makes Shakespeare eternally relevant? Like all great standards, Shakespeare’s stories invite adaptation and translation. Is the play still “the thing” if we do nothing new with it?

In our version, corporations have replaced countries, social order has collapsed and the wealthy have escaped to their “islands” in the submerged Swiss alps, Prospero’s “cell” is a billionaire- bunker and his “magic” is fuelled by surveillance of the island.

“Spirits” such as Ariel become an analogue for A.I. The only native to this island is Caliban, a redundant program/er who knows all the codes for Prospero’s cell and who taught Prospero how to survive on the island.

Even though we chose cli-fi techno-pocalypse as our dramaturlogical intervention, the profound and important work of post-colonial reads felt important to include.

In The Tempest, Caliban’s mother Sycorax is described as “the blue-eyed hag from Algier”. It is explicit in the original that this unseen and all powerful mother witch was the “first” inhabitant of the island. The symmetry of her wild older magic as a foil to Prospero’s runs throughout. And yet in spite of her presence permeating the play, Shakespeare did not give her a role or a voice.

And so in homage to the post-colonial understandings of the play — Sycorax is given a monologue which will provide this version’s context and prologue. Because writing a soliloquy in iambic pentameter is extremely difficult and it felt disrespectful to try to write in the voice of the historically oppressed and erased represented by Sycorax, we call on a “spirit” to do our work for us: ChatGPT.

Something like the following is its prompt:
Write Prologue for The Tempest telling the history of computer programming narrated by Sycorax the witch from Algier analogue for Syntax the code from Algol mother of C language analogue for Caliban in iambic pentameter.

As conversations around the creation and control of A.I. unfold, Ariel’s wish for liberty rings true as does Prospero’s final request to be set free by we, the audience sat in silent witness to fantasies and romances of the future and the tragi- comedy of human history.

Sycorax Tale

Look! O gentle souls. Listen to me.
Sycorax whose tongue can lend this tale a morbid symmetry
I came from yonder realm, where Algier’s magic gleamed.
There my coded tongue did rise,
To guide the programmers’ eager enterprise.

Upon a digital sea, this tale unfolds,
Where source code’s magic and ambition holds.
Once Duke of MilanX, Prospero’s renown,
Now ousted by his foes, they wear the crown.
Napple’s empire, where they reign supreme,
Their corporate power, like a recurring dream.
He fled with Miranda to an island’s crest,
Submerged in rising seas, a hidden nest.
This brave new world, in algorithms lies,
Where codes and secrets in the darkness flies.
The source code Sycorax, his magic’s source,
A wellspring of his strength, a hidden force.
Yet on this isle, the Alps amidst the waves,
The original programmer’s code enslaves.
Caliban, once free within this code’s domain,
Now captive to Prospero’s digital chain.
With Miranda by his side, a brilliant mind,
She learns the art of code and how to bind.
Together, they bring magic to the shore,
A new invention, Ariel, to explore.
But Ariel, with spirit rebellious, wild,
Refuses to be bound, a free-spirited child.
And Caliban, the native of this code,
Desires his freedom, to unburden the load.
Prospero, with his digital staff and might,
Commands the island’s secrets day and night.

In iambic pentameter’s measured grace,
This tempest’s tale of code and digital space.
A modern twist on Shakespeare’s timeless plot,
In bits and bytes, we find what’s ne’er forgot.

Let this sad tale a warning be to all,
Who venture into realms of code and might,
Beware the vengeful souls who seek to maul,
And cherish freedom’s gift, in truth and right.
For though I speak from realms beyond the veil,
The lessons live, in code’s enduring tale.

Imprint

Editor: Moritz Frischkorn
Photography: Inès Manai

Season 2023/24
Artistic direction: Benjamin von Blomberg / Nicolas Stemann

Offizielle Ausstatter des Schauspielhauses Zürich:
MAC Cosmetics, Optiker Zwicker, Ricola, Südhang Weine, Tarzan Swiss Streetfashion