Word: tempests
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...almost every one of its 14 years as an independent nation, Bangladesh has been buffeted by fatal storms and floods and famine. The latest tempest, however, was the worst since 1970, when another killer cyclone took more than half a million lives in the same area...
Like most of the late romances, Twelfth Night's confusion arises in part from a tearful tale of past woe. Viola (Elizabeth McGovern) has lost her twin brother in a tempest at sea, and assuming him dead, disguises herself in his clothing to pay tribute to his memory. This causes her considerable discomfort, however, since she is forced to hide her love for her "fellow" friend Curio (James Bodge). Add to this Curio's lover Olivia (Margaret Reed) falling unwittingly head over heels for McGovern, and you have the makings of a maze that keeps both actors and audience...
...Warwick Hutton has found a way of giving the tale a fresh approach in Jonah and the Great Fish (Atheneum; $12.95). The text is simplified but not simpleminded, and if the sins have been scaled down, the sinner has not. As Jonah and his shipmates are buffeted by the tempest, the wind seems to blow from the page, and the great fish that consumes him soon turns from a monster into a seaborne aquarium. One half expects to see a sign on its vaulted rib cage warning OCCUPANCY BY MORE THAN 1,000 FISH AND 1 PROPHET IS UNLAWFUL...
...this scheme of things, they also made plausible heroes. The great example is Stubbs' prosaically titled Hambletonian, Rubbing Down, 1800. Hambletonian, winner of both the St. Leger and the Doncaster Gold Cup in 1796, belonged 3 to a rich and deep-gambling young baronet named Sir Henry Vane-Tempest. In 1799 Vane-Tempest put him up against Diamond, another star horse, for a purse of 3,000 guineas. (At the time, a farmer's laborer might have made the equivalent of five guineas a year.) The match drew the biggest crowd and the heaviest side-betting ever seen...
...anachronisms into his production - the commedia dell'arte for the comic duo of Trinculo and Stephano, for example, and a hint of Peking opera mannerism for Ariel - but they effectively underscore the contrasts between the spirit and human worlds, making the confrontation even more pointed. This is a Tempest of clarity, strength and purpose - exactly what was lacking in the Royal Opera's Turandot. The cross-cultural irony is inescapable: the English company presenting the Italian opera had failed, but the Italians staging an English classic had made a glorious success...