UMD’s ‘The Tempest’ is the perfect storm
A unique rendition of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is playing February 7-9 & 12-15 at UMD’s Dudley Experimental Theatre.
UMD assistant professor Matthew Olsen directed and adapted the show into 90 minutes. A duke-turned-sorcerer plots revenge on those who wrong him, but it’s complicated by magic and some deeper realizations. For Olsen, the show is about redemption, love and forgiveness.
Olsen explains to The Lift, “I think one of the big things about this play is that people think it might be Shakespeare’s last. And Prospero, the main character, is Shakespeare in a sense. So, I took things from other Shakespeare plays that I love and I put it into this play.”
UMD Senior Ryan Sternbaum helped create a soundscape with sea shanties and techno music, “I ended up writing 14 pieces of music for the show. It was a really fun process. I went to all the actors who had music behind their scenes, and I asked them, ‘What instrument do you feel best represents this character? And how can I use these instruments to weave together these stories?'”