A Good First Impression

I wanted to take a shot at directing some aspects of the second scene of "the Tempest." After Miranda and Prosperous are talking for a while, Ariel comes in to take orders from his master. This is one of the things I envision from the play...

For some reason, hearing him speak of being invisible makes me think of Harry Potter's invisible cloak. If we could somehow get an invisible cloak so that the audience can see the shape, but not really know if they are seeing a person or imagining it, that would be perfect for Ariel’s appearance on stage! After walking around a little, but not drawing too much attention, Ariel would rip off the cloak and bowing say, "All hail great master!"

This would develop him as a character of mischief and fit his nature of “lurking around,” almost like the servant in Mr. Deeds. If we can make it seem as though Ariel is there the whole time and then appears it would be a great first impression.

Next, when Prosperous calls Caliban onto the stage, Miranda says, “'Tis a villain sir, I do not love to look on.” Just then we would hear gargling noises and Miranda would be frightened. When Prosperous speaks his next line, Calibans response would come from under the stage as if inside a glowing hole. During the second response, the audience would see his hands slowly pull his wet slimy body out of the hole. Covered with seaweed, he would come out of the hole and with fear of Prosperous answer him. This would give the audience a good first impression as to what kind of character Caliban is going to be.

These first appearances would bring a lot to these characters. Just like a first impression is made when we meet someone, an audience makes judgments on characters when they first enter the stage of a play.