Word: islanded
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...Britain. This worked fine a half-century ago, when more than 90% of Australians were still of British descent and could feel themselves to be, as Prime Minister Robert Menzies would later put it, "British to the bootheels." But today the picture of exclusionary Australia, the continent-size British island just below Asia, has almost faded away. The White Australia Policy, that disgraceful provision whereby no one of Asian or black descent could settle in Australia, was abandoned in the 1960s, never to be revived. Whole suburbs, like Cabramatta in western Sydney, have become Southeast Asian enclaves. Though Australia admits...
...mood comes from incidental music composed for “The Tempest” by Jean Sibelius in 1925. Under the direction of Julia S. Carey ’09, the chamber orchestra near the back of the stage produces a warm, friendly sound. Early in the play, the island ruler (and rightful Duke of Milan) Prospero (Jason M. Lazarcheck ’08) recounts the tale of his exile to his daughter Miranda (Lauren L. Creedon ’11). As he speaks, six dancers take the stage to illustrate his story...
...dancers return again and again, sometimes as mischievous island spirits, and sometimes as plain old dancers. Sibelius’ score has its whimsical moments, but they are always shaded with pathos, and this darker side helps to ground a play that could very well fly off into sugary, magical fantasy. Prospero’s exile is something that needs to be deeply felt as the price paid for the omnipotence he enjoys on the island. While Prospero’s tale would be compelling on its own—Lazarcheck’s stage presence is strong—Sibelius...
...especially thinking of the poignant scene in which Prospero breaks his staff and drowns his book in the sea, thus relinquishing the magical powers that have made him the ruler of the island. Prospero, who will return to Milan to reclaim power, is too much a scholar and a mystic to really succeed in earthly politics. He will never be more at home than he has been on his island. So why does he give...
...mean to say that this production should have provided an answer. The music and dance evoke the metaphysical uncertainty of Prospero’s island in some terrific ways. Still, a mood is not an intellectual stance. “The Tempest,” as a text, is so experimental and so daring that I cannot understand why this production seemed to be unwilling to wrestle with Shakespeare’s many suggestive questions...