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| The ActorsNet of Bucks County production of Wm Shakespeare's The Tempest 
starring: George Hartpence as Prospero - the right Duke of Milan with Carol Thompson as Ariel - a sprite Kyla Marie Mostello as Miranda - daughter to Prospero Jim Petro as Ferdinand - son to the King of Naples Chuck Donnelly as Caliban - a savage also featuring C. Jamison Bradley as Gonzalo - an honest old Counsellor John Shanken-Kaye as Alonzo - the King of Naples Steve Lobis as Antonio - the usurping Duke of Milan Aaron Wexler as Sebastian - brother to the King of Naples Marco Newton as Trinculo - a Jester Rupert Hinton as Stephano - a drunken Butler directed by Cheryl Doyle set design by George Hartpence April 1st through 17th, 2005 at The Heritage Center Morrisville, PA George Hartpence (right) as Prospero Kyla Marie Mostello (left) as Miranda Jim Petro (left center) as Ferdinand (scroll down for more production photos) Critical Praise "George Hartpence once again shows why he is a consummate Shakespearean performer — stunning diction, tempered with genuine emotion, so that every word is not only said and heard, but understood in context." "You just plain aren't going to see a more charming and definitive production of The Tempest, probably in your lifetime. Don't miss it." Stuart Duncan - Princeton Packet (see full review below) Production Credits: | 
| Ariel's "harpy" headpiece by: Caroline (Cleo) Guyer at 
(click on link to visit)
|  | Prospero's Staff custom designed by: Mark Gaskins of Chigoe Creek Staffs 
(click on link to visit) |
A Better World
(programme notes compiled for the ActorsNet production of Wm Shakespeare's The Tempest)
Often seen as the playwright's farewell to the theatre world, Shakespeare's The Tempest reveals a world of illusions and magic—where an angry sorcerer manipulates spirits and humans alike in his search for revenge. Banished to an abandoned island by his power-hungry brother, the Duke of Milan, Prospero seizes his opportunity for retribution in a powerful storm that shipwrecks the Duke and other nobles on the island. The story of a man who realizes that the sole way to regain his humanity is to relinquish his omnipotent control, The Tempest is a powerful tale that unites Shakespeare's celebrated themes of love, man's vulnerability and forgiveness.
The Tempest is usually listed among Shakespeare's Romances, those curious plays that critics cannot safely categorize as either comedy or tragedy - although if this play resembles any other of Shakespeare's, it is surely A Midsummer Night's Dream. In both, the manipulative power of magic is used with some mischief, but always with an eye toward setting the world to right, which indeed it seems to do in both plays. Why not call The Tempest a comedy, then? There is little overt suffering in this play. We are even given the happy union of a young couple of lovers, the hallmark of all of Shakespeare's lighter comedies. The magic of the island is a magic quite similar to the magic of the theatre itself. We, as the audience to Shakespeare and to Prospero, may be moved, frightened, awed, but are never really in any danger.
However, it is in this same magic, and the power it gives to Prospero, that the play's less comic elements emerge. For there is a darker mood to The Tempest that distinguishes it from Shakespeare's more playful works: at its heart, this is a story of revenge. Or perhaps, more aptly, a story about trying fiercely to avoid revenge. Shakespeare gives us every reason to expect a harsh comeuppance for those who betrayed Prospero, and certainly Prospero never suggests anything other than a vengeful anger toward them. His enemies are in his hands, and, all-powerful, he can do with them as he likes. It is a scenario ripe for a tragedy of revenge; despite the enchanted setting of the isle, full of "sweet airs, that give delight," a perfect setting for a fairy-tale comedy, Shakespeare has drawn us perilously close to the tragedy of a tyrant's wrath.
Of course, neither he nor Prospero ever quite succumb to that possibility. Nevertheless, we should keep that darker possibility in mind as we watch this play, even though Caliban’s cramps and Ferninand's unhappy chores appear to be the utmost of Prospero's cruelty. For a man with near omnipotence, he shows self-restraint in his governance, but the cliché of absolute power should not be forgotten, even as Prospero attempts to exercise justice with that power.
For it is justice, not revenge, which Prospero seeks in this play. His goal throughout is to reform, to improve, not simply to punish. Though he could easily resort to extreme measures in this goal, he refrains. And in refraining, he risks failure - he risks the refusal of those he encourages to better themselves. The ending of this play is one of troubled peace; Prospero's treacherous brother, Antonio, is forgiven, but shows no gratitude, no reconciliation, and no remorse. Ferdinand and Miranda seem destined for happiness; however, their sudden union - a love born largely out of the fact that her experience of the opposite sex is decidedly limited - might not support such optimism. And what of Caliban? He vows to "seek for grace," but from whom? Who knows what his future holds? The play concludes and yet it does not end - much is left undecided, and not all matters have been turned for the better.
But consider Prospero's alternative. To force a happy ending would be precisely the kind of tyranny he seems to try to avoid. Enforced virtue is not virtue; it is resentful obedience - the sullen conformity of Caliban confirms this. For these characters to reform truly, they must be left to do so of their own free will. And we, Shakespeare's audience, are no different. We cannot simply rely on the magic of the theatre to set us at our ease. We cannot allow its magic to point us toward a vision of the world as a place where problems and failures are solved by a wave of a wand. We may wish to - indeed, we may prefer the world of the theatre, with its spectacular pleasures and easy solutions - but Shakespeare is all too aware that such temptation is addictive, and directs us away from our true responsibilities as human beings.
And surely that is Shakespeare's goal here - to create a work that seeks to inspire, not awe. After centuries of deifying him, we have come to think that Shakespeare can do no wrong. The Tempest shows that the man himself would reject such an assessment. Like his on-stage equivalent, Prospero, he recognizes that his art has limits - and that it can lead his audience astray. Caliban, after all, is the product of Prospero's authority - first taught, then punished, then deluded by his master, he emerges as "a thing of darkness" that Prospero, in a moment of harsh self-judgment, must acknowledge as his own. Caliban, once his own king, is reduced to dreams of riches and to licking the boot of a drunken butler - a poor product of Prospero's tutelage. But left to his own devices, Caliban learns to discriminate between the substantial and the illusory - it is he, after all, who recognizes as "trash" the fine clothes Prospero lays out as bait for the comic conspirators, and who acknowledges his own folly by play's end. Such improvement, however small, is more substantial because it comes unforced.
If The Tempest is Shakespeare's farewell to the theatre - a final recognition of the limits of art's magic and of the need for its magicians to allow humanity to pursue its own course, either to wisdom or to folly - then it need not be a rueful farewell. For surely Prospero's mercy is an act of optimism, which springs from a belief that though human nature cannot be cured in an instant, it can be cured. If Shakespeare leaves us with this play, and abandons us to the real world, he does so in the hope that we, as much as Caliban, will seek to be wiser from now on. Despite its tone of finality, this play, more than any other of Shakespeare's, looks forward to a better world than the one found on a small desert island.
Stephen Greenblatt, “Will In The World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare”, W.W. Norton & Company 2004
Marjorie Garber, “Shakespeare After All”, Pantheon, 2004
Virginia Mason Vaughan (Editor), Alden T. Vaughan (Editor) “The Tempest”, Arden Shakespeare 1999
PRODUCTION PHOTOS: 
| Miranda beholds the shipwreck Kyla Marie Mostello as Miranda George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| Prospero comforts his daughter Kyla Marie Mostello as Miranda George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| Chuck Donnelly as Caliban | 
| Prospero reprimands Ariel Carol Thompson as Ariel George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| Prospero instructs Ariel Carol Thompson as Ariel George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| Shipwrecked Nobility (from left to right) John Shanken-Kaye as Alonzo Jamie Bradley as Gonzalo Ken Ammerman as Adrian Aaron Wexler as Sebastian Steve Lobis as Antonio Carol Thompson as Ariel partially obscured by obelisk | 
| C. Jamison Bradley as Gonzalo | 
| A frantic King of Naples in search of his lost son C Jamison Bradley (left) as Gonzalo John Shanken-Kaye (right) as Alonzo | 
| Bad Boys Steve Lobis (left) as Antonio Aaron Wexler (right) as Sebastian | 
| Ariel overhears the plot to murder Alonzo Aaron Wexler as Sebastian Carol Thompson (lower right) as Ariel | 
| Jim Petro (left) as Ferdinand Summer Shanken-Kaye as a sprite | 
| Ariel (Carol Thompson) leads a chorus of sprites in dance and song | 
| Jim Petro as Ferdinand | 
| Kyla Marie Mostello (left) as Miranda Jim Petro (right) as Ferdinand | 
| After many labours Prosperos gives his belssing to the union of Miranda (Kyla Marie Mostello) and Ferdinand (Jim Petro) George Hartpence (center) as Prospero | 
| Chuck Donnelly's Caliban rebels | 
| Ariel overhears a new plot Carol Thompson as Ariel | 
| Stephano (Rupert Hinton - right) and Trinculo (Marco Newton - left) are unaware of Ariel's eavesdropping Carol Thompson (center) as Ariel | 
| Stephano (Rupert Hinton - left) the drunken butler with a drunken Caliban (Chuck Donnelly - right) | 
| Stephano (Rupert Hinton - left) and Trinculo (Marco Newton - right) deep in their cups while plotting to usurp the island | 
| Ariel warns Prospero George Hartpence (left) as Prospero and Carol Thompson (right) as Ariel | 
| Ariel in "harpy" form Carol Thompson as Ariel |
| Ariel in "harpy" form chastizes the plotters Carol Thompson as Ariel | 
| Prospero conjures a celebration of marriage George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| Ferdinand and Miranda watch the magic Miranda (Kyla Marie Mostello) and Ferdinand (Jim Petro) | 
| Ceres, Juno and Iris sing Carol Thompson (left) as Ceres Rachael Lavery (center) as Juno Tess Ammerman (right) as Iris | 
| a bergomask | 
| "Our revels now are ended." George Hartpence (right) as Prospero Kyla Marie Mostello (left) as Miranda Jim Petro (center left) as Ferdinand | 
| "Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves." George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| "I have bedimm'd the noontide sun." George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| "But this rough magic I here abjure." George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| Spellbound Prospero once again sees his old friend, Gonzalo George Hartpence (left) as Prospero Jamie Bradley (right) as Gonzalo | 
| Ariel dresses Prospero in his Milanese finery George Hartpence (right) as Prospero Carol Thompson (center) as Ariel Jamie Bradley (left) as Gonzalo | 
| Prospero (George Hartpence - left) greets the awakened King Alonzo (John Shanken-Kaye - right) | 
| Prospero demands his dukedom of his usurping brother George Hartpence (right) as Prospero Steve Lobis (left) as Antonio | 
| Prospero taking leave of his daughter George Hartpence as Prospero (left) Kyla Marie Mostello as Miranda (center) Jim Petro (rear right) as Ferdinand | 
| George Hartpence as Prospero (left) Kyla Marie Mostello as Miranda (center) John Shanken-Kaye as Alonzo (center right) Jim Petro (right) as Ferdinand "George Hartpence once again shows why he is a consummate Shakespearean performer — stunning diction, tempered with genuine emotion, so that every word is not only said and heard, but understood in context. One moment will suffice (and strangely, it's a moment I never felt before through several dozen different stagings by various companies). It comes late in the show, when Ferdinand already has claimed his Miranda and Prospero realizes that he may be gaining a son-in-law, but surely he is losing a daughter. It is an expression rather than a mere speech and it drives deep into the heart." Stuart Duncan - Princeton Packet | 
| The boatswain (Corey Stradling - right) informs Alonzo (John Shanken-Kaye - left) and Adrian (Ken Ammerman - center) that the ship is safely in harbour | 
| "This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine." Chuck Donnelly (center) as Caliban George Hartpence (center right) as Prospero John Shanken-Kaye (center left) as Alonzo | 
| Prospero sets Ariel free George Hartpence (left) as Prospero Carol Thompson (right) as Ariel | 
| "Now my charms are all o'erthrown." George Hartpence as Prospero | 
| The enchanted island deserted | 
| ActorsNet program cover | | | | | | |
Review: Actors' NET takes on one of Shakespeare's final plays. by Stuart Duncan - Princeton Packet April 13, 2005 Scholars agree that The Tempest is the last of Shakespeare's plays actually written entirely by him. The 1611 effort was followed by two works that some believe were written in collaboration with John Fletcher — The Noble Kinsmen and Henry VIII. But these are flawed works, and not all agree on the authorship. What is accepted, however, is the fact that The Tempest is one of only two plays for which Shakespeare conceived of the entire plot (Love's Labours Lost is the other).
Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, lives with his daughter, Miranda, on a lonely island; with Caliban, the misshapen, half-man, half-beast, son of the sorceress Synorax; and Ariel, a sprite, imprisoned by the same witch and freed by Prospero. Through the years (apparently a dozen) Prospero has developed and honed his magical powers and now causes a ship carrying his former enemies to be wrecked on the shores of the island. Thus we are provided with enough villains for the piece as well as Ferdinand, the son of the King of Naples, who can be a romantic figure for Miranda (who, after all, has no males with which to compare him except her father). We also have a shipwrecked drunken butler and a jester for comic relief, plus assorted island creatures for musical and dancing interludes.
The current production of The Tempest at Actors' NET in Morrisville, Pa., is one of the best examples of what a truly dedicated company, armed with intelligence and imagination, can do with good material. We begin with a set that manages to combine Botticelli, the Italian painter, with woodland artifacts, including trees, caves and hillocks. We add some of the prettiest costumes seen in years. Designer Michael Ashby apparently had the efforts of at least a dozen seamstresses. Prospero's staff, an extraordinary bit of carved wood several leagues tall, was crafted especially for the production.
And all that before we even get to the cast which is superb. George Hartpence once again shows why he is a consummate Shakespearean performer — stunning diction, tempered with genuine emotion, so that every word is not only said and heard, but understood in context. One moment will suffice (and strangely, it's a moment I never felt before through several dozen different stagings by various companies). It comes late in the show, when Ferdinand already has claimed his Miranda and Prospero realizes that he may be gaining a son-in-law, but surely he is losing a daughter. It is an expression rather than a mere speech and it drives deep into the heart.
It opens the questions that make The Tempest so intriguing. Did Shakespeare realize that the play was to be his farewell to the stage? Was "Now our revel all are ended" intended to be his adieu? After all, much is left to chance: Miranda knows so little of the male sex, can her marriage possibly work out? Prospero forgives his treacherous brother, Antonio, but gets no promise in return, not even gratitude. And Prospero's magical arts are ended for good. At the epilogue Prospero asks, no, begs the audience to free him by its applause. Did he know that really was it?
Mr. Hartpence gets lots of superb help: Carol Thompson is more than just a sprite; she is a whirlwind of joy, leaping around the stage in search of spells to cast. Kyla Marie Mostello is a charming Miranda, avoiding the pitfalls of coyness and replacing it with genuine awe. Chuck Donnelly also avoids the coarse brutality of Caliban to show rather that indeed he cannot help what has been bequeathed to him by birth. Marco Newton is a genuinely funny Trinculo, a jester who can charm as well as make people laugh. Rupert Hinton manages to avoid the obvious qualities of a drunkard, replaced by a stuffy attitude of the royal wannabe. Jim Petro, as Ferdinand, cuts a handsome figure without seeming to pose. The goddesses, Tess Ammerman and Rachel Lavery, arrive very late in the evening, then proceed to sing beautifully. In fact, the music in this production is extraordinary all by itself.
C. Jameson Bradley stands out as the faithful counselor Gonzalo. Steve Lobis is properly brooding and sour as Antonio. John Shanken-Kaye is commanding as the King of Naples. And bravo also to the various creatures of the island, nymphs and sprites: Alex Bartlett, Gracie Coscia, Addy Coscia, Sommer Shanken-Kaye, Brenna Bajor, Arne Nelson, Scott Lutz, Carolyn Kelly, Danielle DiLorenzo and Haley Keister.
You just plain aren't going to see a more charming and definitive production of The Tempest, probably in your lifetime. Don't miss it.
The Tempest continues at Actors' NET of Bucks County, the Heritage Center, 635 N. Delmorr Ave., Morrisville, Pa., through April 17. Performances: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 6 p.m. Tickets cost $12, $10 seniors/children. For information, call (215) 295-3694. On the Web: www.actorsnetbucks.org
Previous Productions: George has appeared in two other productions of The Tempest. (see StageBio Geo page links for more info on this production) This production directed by Ana Kalet also featured: | Rob Pherson as Prospero Catherine Rowe as Gonzala Faith Agnew-Dowgin as Ariel Amy Metroka as Miranda Scott E Costine as Alonzo Marc Scott as Caliban Warren Lieuallen as Ferdinand Jon Paradise as Sebastian Chris Lowry as Stephano Elizabeth A. Durkin as Trincula Edward Gonzalez as the boatswain Mallory Pherson as Ceres Christine Havala as Iris |  |
There was more than a little Hannibal Lecter in Geo's interpretation of uncle Antonio. 
| George Hartpence and Scott E. Costine in background as Antonio and Alonzo Rob Pherson and Amy Metroka in foreground as Prospero and Miranda |  | Prospero (Rob Pherson) chastizes Ariel (Faith Dowgin) | 
| George Hartpence (left) as Antonio Scott E. Costine (right) as Alonzo |  | George Hartpence (right) as Antonio seduces Jon Paradise (left) as Sebastian to the dark side. |  | George Hartpence (rear right) and John Paradise (rear left) as Antonio and Sebastian Catherine Rowe (below left) and Scott E. Costine (below right) as Gonzala and Alonzo |  | George Hartpence (left) as Antonio Catherine Rowe (right) as Gonzala |  | Rob Pherson's Prospero instructs Faith Agnew-Dowgin's Ariel |  | George Hartpence as Antonio overdoing the Heidelberg sabre scar |  | Marc Scott (left) as Caliban Chris Lowry (center) as Stephano Elizabeth Durkin (right) as Trincula |  | Edward Gonzalez (left) as boatswain Rob Pherson (center) as Prospero Scott E. Costine (right) as Alonzo George Hartpence (rear left) as Antonio |  | Prospero demands his dukedom of his brother Rob Pherson (left) as prospero George Hartpence (center) as Antonio Catherine Rowe (right) as Gonzala |  | lobby shot from left: Scott E. Costine Catherine Rowe George Hartpence | | | | | | | | |
Next George appeared in Shakespeare`70's June 7th - 16th, 2001 production at the Washington Crossing Open Air Theater as King Alonzo. (see StageBio Geo page links for more info on this production - or click the poster below) This production featured Dale Simon as Prospero and Steve Kazakoff as Caliban. 
This page was last modified on Saturday, July 10, 2010 | |
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