鈥淚t鈥檚 a uniquely complex play,鈥� director Robert Carsen says, 鈥渁nd simple at the same time. It operates on so many levels. It鈥檚 one of the most extraordinary examples of what theatre can do.鈥�
Carsen is talking about The Tempest, the 1611 romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to be the last play Shakespeare wrote by himself. Carsen brings the old English classic to Paris鈥� fabled Com茅die-Fran莽aise in a new French-language production. Performances begin December 9.
In the play, the magical Prospero鈥攖he deposed Duke of Milan鈥攁nd his 15-year-old daughter, Miranda, have been living on an isolated island for 12 years with the sprite Ariel and the deformed Caliban, both slaves to Prospero. Prospero conjures a tempest to bring to the island his usurping brother Antonio, as well as Alonso鈥攖he King of Naples鈥擜lonso鈥檚 son, Ferdinand, and the king鈥檚 brother, Sebastian, among others, to seek revenge and make things right.
For Carsen, one of the most important elements of the play is the concept of power. 鈥淪hakespeare had a lifetime of studying power, and how men are just endlessly attracted to power, in spite of everything,鈥� says Carsen, who has directed productions of Candide, My Fair Lady, and the current Singin鈥� in the Rain (at the Grand Palais) in Paris, but is primarily known for directing opera; his work includes critically hailed stagings of Eugene Onegin, Falstaff and Der Rosenkavalier at New York鈥檚 Metropolitan Opera.
In The Tempest, the thirst for power 鈥渋s absurd,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 almost Beckettian. The characters arrive on an island where there鈥檚 nothing, and nevertheless they still go after power as if they鈥檙e back in Milan or Naples. It鈥檚 all absurd, this notion of seizing power even in the middle of nowhere. They have these huge plans, but how are they ever going to get off this place?鈥�
All these characters 鈥渁re motivated by self-interest,鈥� Carsen says鈥攅ven Prospero, until the final act, 鈥渨hen plans surprisingly change鈥� and he is enlightened 鈥渢hat vengeance is not the only way forward,鈥� that forgiveness is more fruitful. 鈥淭he play is like sand on a desert island. It shifts all the time.鈥�
This is the first straight play Carsen has directed in France and also the first time he has directed at the Com茅die-Fran莽aise. When he was invited to work at the Com茅die-Fran莽aise, the theatre gave him the freedom to choose his show. 鈥淚 thought about it and decided that Shakespeare would be wonderful with this company and its marvelous resident troupe of actors. And intuitively I suggested The Tempest. I鈥檝e been very attracted to it and hoped that one day I could direct it.鈥� It鈥檚 the first time in 20 years the company has presented the play, which continues in repertory to May 2018.
Doing a Shakespeare play in translation is tricky, Carsen says. 鈥淵ou have to think about it carefully, because you can鈥檛 translate 鈥榦ld.鈥� You have to translate 鈥榥ew.鈥� And you can translate everything but the poetry. The poetry comes out differently.鈥�
He chose a translation by the renowned French writer Jean-Claude Carri猫re, known for his many film collaborations with Luis Bu帽uel, for his screenplays of The Tin Drum, The Return of Martin Guerre, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Valmont and for his collaboration with Peter Brook on the nine-hour stage version of the ancient Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata.
Carsen says even an Anglophone with little or no French will be able to appreciate the production. (Read the play before going if you鈥檙e not very familiar with it.) 鈥淚 hope our production speaks not only through the language but through the exchange between the actors and the audience. I have to think that even if you don鈥檛 speak French, you will intuit Shakespeare,鈥� says Carsen.
The director notes he also had to decide on a point of view about Prospero: 鈥淎re you going to take at face value what he says about his powers鈥攖hat he can bring the dead back to life, that he can make storms? Or do you interpret that in another way? And of course that鈥檚 the option we鈥檝e gone for鈥攎ore as a psychological study, if you like, of what it is to be alive, what is a desert island.鈥�
Another important aspect of the text, Carsen says, 鈥渋s that the theatre causes us to ask a lot of questions, and Shakespeare teaches us that we don鈥檛 have to answer those questions. Somehow it鈥檚 enough to ask them. If you try to find explanations for characters like Ariel or Caliban, the explaining can have a reductive effect on the experience.鈥�
And then there is Miranda, the innocent who has never experienced the world of man and on first encountering a group of its residents famously exclaims: 鈥淗ow beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in鈥檛.鈥�
鈥淭he play is also singular in that it鈥檚 all men except of course for Miranda. And you have this extraordinary situation of a young girl discovering everything for the first time, and all around her are all these plots, new ones, old ones, and somehow this innocent鈥� sees only good. 鈥淚n Shakespeare鈥檚 plays, when the present becomes unbearable, there is a sense that the future might be better. But very often, he also lets you know that it probably won鈥檛 be. Whereas in The Tempest, there is an optimism in this final play鈥攄espite the melancholy鈥攖hat one doesn鈥檛 encounter in any other Shakespeare play in a similar way. It鈥檚 a wonderful thing.鈥�
