“The Tempest” – one of the latest dramatic works by W. Shakespeare, staged many times in various places in Lithuania. Written in the XVII century, this tragicomedy reflects the disappointment of the ideal of humanism and connects reality with the magic and fantasy elements of fairy tales. On a distant nameless island live the outcasts – a wizard and an artist, Prospero, with his daughter Miranda. Prospero controls the elements of nature, evil and good spirits. He seeks revenge on his enemies, who once made him run away from Milan and took his duke throne. Using spells, he stirs up a tempest in the sea, in which the enemies’ ship is sailing, breaks it, and flings away the crew to the same island. Once the enemies are lured, Prospero chooses forgiveness.

“The Tempest” is one of the few works by W. Shakespeare with a happy ending.

Peeter Jalakas, an Estonian director and avant-gardist, creates a modern and theatrical show where live theatre and modern technologies are merged, employing the exotic surroundings of the island. The director offers a unique interpretation – he proposes to look at the inhabitants of the nameless island as the beginning of a new, more perfect, better humanity. The audiences are invited to try to imagine a future in which the roles of mythological creatures, spirits, and nymphs are taken over by artificial intelligence. This interpretation questions Prospero’s forgiveness and nobility, it emphasises the lack of human essence. The ending is happy, but did human kind had contributed to it?

Peeter Jalakas is an Estonian theatre director, playwright, and producer. In 1987, he established the first private theatre troupe in Estonia called “VAT Teater“, and in 1989 – a theatre called “Ruto Killakund” (both of them are based in Talin), where he was the manager and the producer, and was one of the first ones to stage plays in non-traditional spaces in Estonia. Since 1992, he has led the theatre “Von Krahl”, which he established in Talin. From 1994 to 1996, he was the manager of “Rakvere” drama theatre. In 1990, in Pärnu, he started the alternative theatre international festival “Baltoscandal”. He also writes plays and combines multimedia and Estonian folklore in an authentic way in his performances.

Premiere –2023 September 21, October 25, 26

Original play translated from English by Tomas Venclova