The Fine Arts at KICS moved into new territory last week by staging our first ever Shakespeare production, The Tempest.

The Tempest tells the story of Prospero, the Duke of Milan (Fareed Osman Y10), who is usurped by his evil brother Antonio (Einas Kamal Y12) and imprisoned on a deserted island with his daughter Miranda (Nadine El Roubi Y12), a good spirit whom he commands called Ariel (Hanna Suliman Nicol Y8) and an evil semi-human called Caliban (Ahmed Sobahi Y9). Years later, Prospero uses his magic to build up a tempest (sea storm) to capture a ship containing his brother together with the King of Naples, Alonso (Nicolas Matagne Y9) and a group of lords, including Prospero’s friend Gonzalo (Omar Osama Y8) and the King’s brother Sebastian (Dena Osama Y10). 

The King’s son Ferdinand (Louis Torres Y10) is separated from the party and put to work by Prospero, who also has to deal with the attentions of two fools, Trinculo (Oscar Valdini Y8) and Stephano (James Dindorf Y8). As the story unfolds, we start to wonder exactly what Prospero will do to exact his revenge but, eventually, Ariel convinces Prospero that reconciliation is the better way and everything ends happily.

It was a privilege to work with a group of students and teachers who showed huge commitment to making the production a success. It was certainly a challenge. For a start, Shakespearean English is not the same as regular English and our young cast, the majority of whom are in Year 10 and below and second language learners, had some struggles to not only learn the words but also to understand them and be able to deliver them in an appropriate way. Learning and understanding the words allows the cast to start concentrating on expression, emotion and reactions to others, all things that are required for a genuinely great production.As often happens with productions, everything really came together in the last week and the students put on great performances on both nights. Special mention must go to Fareed Osman who was absolutely superb in the role of Prospero, a difficult character to play due to his constant mood changes and huge number of lines.

Behind the scenes, Ms Lisa, Ms Ranmali, Ms Jax and Mrs Sarah worked non-stop to organise costumes, staging, lights, sound….in fact - you name it and they did it, including trying to talk Arabic at the souk, inflating a giant boat and creating soft rocks! Many other staff were also involved, including Ms Elona (make-up), Mr Luke (Stage Manager), and Mr Jeff, Mr Mahmoud and Mr Yaseen (Lights and Sound).My thanks go to everyone involved in the production. Roll on next year......

Dr Darryl, Director