Primary School Student Script The Tempest by William Shakespeare Abridged for the

22 Pages·2013·0.66 MB·English

by  Kate Lamb

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Primary School Student Script
The Tempest
by

William Shakespeare

Abridged for the Shakespeare Schools Festival
by

Martin Lamb

30 MINUTE VERSION

© Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF)
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on.”
Copyright of the abridged scripts rest with Shakespeare Schools Festival charity.
Your registration fee only allows you to perform the abridgement during the current
Festival. You may not share the script with other schools, or download all the scripts
for personal use. A public performance of the SSF abridged script must be premiered
at the professional SSF theatre.
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LIST OF ROLES

Alonso THE KING OF NAPLES
Sebastian HIS BROTHER
Prospero THE RIGHTFUL DUKE OF MILAN
Antonio HIS BROTHER, THE USURPING DUKE OF MILAN
Ferdinand THE SON OF THE KING OF NAPLES
Gonzalo AN HONEST OLD COUNSELLOR
Caliban AN ENSLAVED INHABITANT OF THE ISLAND
Trinculo A JESTER
Stephano A DRUNKEN BUTLER
Boatswain
Sailors
Miranda PROSPERO’S DAUGHTER
Ariel AN AIRY SPIRIT
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THE TEMPEST
SEQUENCE 1
ENTER PROSPERO with ARIEL. ARIEL could carry Prospero’s
cloak/coat.

PROSPERO By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune
Hath mine enemies brought to this shore
ARIEL could help PROSPERO on with his coat.

NARRATION This is Prospero, who was the Duke of Milan. Twelve years ago he
and his three year old daughter, Miranda, were shipwrecked on a
wild island inhabited by two strange creatures.

NARRATION Now, those who put them to sea in a leaky boat are themselves on
a ship close by. Prospero, with help from one of the island’s
strange creatures, and his own powers of magic, is going to force
them to meet him again.

PROSPERO could whisper something to ARIEL and move to the
side of the stage. ARIEL could, through his/her movement, trigger
sound and light.

Thunder and lightning. The sounds of a storm at sea. The stage is
flooded by characters. Some are SAILORS. Five are NOBLEMEN
– ALONSO and FERDINAND, ANTONIO, SEBASTIAN and
GONZALO. Two are SERVANTS – TRINCULO and STEPHANO.
Other LORDS as available.
The SAILORS could pull on ropes/hold the ship’s wheel/turn
capstans and other urgent actions as they battle the storm.

The NOBLEMEN could huddle together. They might point to the
ship’s masts and to the island’s shore. Some could drop to their
knees to pray. The SERVANTS could sit back to back, each
clutching a bottle.

SAILOR 1 Boatswain!1 Fall to ’t yarely,2 or we run ourselves aground.

SAILOR 2 Yare!3 Yare! Take in the topsail!

ALONSO Good Boatswain, have care!

SAILOR TWO Keep below. You mar our labour!

SAILOR ONE You do assist the storm!

GONZALO Remember whom thou hast aboard.

1 Pronounced “Bosun”
2 Do it quickly!
3 Quickly!
4

SAILOR TWO If you can command these elements to silence, use your authority.

SAILOR ONE If you cannot, make yourself ready in your cabin. Out of our way.

ANTONIO (to GONZALO) We are merely cheated of our lives by
drunkards.4

ALONSO and FERDINAND drop to their knees to pray

GONZALO The King and prince at prayers. Let’s assist them, for our case is
as theirs.5 (They fall to their knees)

SAILORS Mercy on us!
We split, we split!
Farewell, my wife and children!
Farewell, brother!

ANTONIO Let’s all sink wi’th’king!

SAILORS We split! We split!

A final crack of lightning and all on board the ship EXIT

SEQUENCE 2

PROSPERO is joined by MIRANDA

MIRANDA If, by your art, dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.6

PROSPERO Be collected, Miranda. There’s no harm done.

MIRANDA Oh, woe the day!

PROSPERO No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, my dear one.
Lend thy hand and pluck my magic garment from me.
(MIRANDA could help PROSPERO remove his cloak/coat)
’Tis time I should inform thee what thou art.7

MIRANDA You have often begun to tell me what I am, but stopped,
concluding, “Stay. Not yet”

PROSPERO The hour’s now come.

4 He blames the sailors, claiming their drunkenness got the ship into trouble.
5 We’re all in this together, so we must all pray.
6 If you caused this storm with you magic powers, please stop it.
7 I’m going to tell you how we came to be here.
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NARRATION Prospero was a good Duke of Milan, much loved by his people.
But he loved his books more than he loved his duties.

NARRATION So he asked his brother, Antonio, to look after the business of
being Duke of Milan. Antonio enjoyed the power and thought
he’d like to keep it.

NARRATION So he approached the King of Naples, Alonso, who was an
enemy of Prospero.

NARRATION The two of them conspired. Antonio paid money to Alonso, who
made Antonio the Duke of Milan and arranged for Prospero, and
the three year old Miranda, to be seized and banished.

NARRATION Prospero and Miranda were cast adrift in a rotten, leaky boat. One
nobleman, Gonzalo, took pity on Prospero and gave him a parcel
of clothes and some books of magic. And Gonzalo’s parcel is all
they possessed when they washed up on the island.

PROSPERO (He stands and puts on his coat/cloak)
Here in this island we arrived, and here
Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit
Than other princesses.8

MIRANDA Heavens thank you for ’t! And now I pray you, sir –
For ’tis beating in my mind – your reason
For raising this storm?

PROSPERO Here cease more questions. Thou art inclined to sleep.
Give it way.
(MIRANDA sleeps – PROSPERO controls this)
I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel, come

ENTER ARIEL

ARIEL All hail, great master.

PROSPERO Hast thou, spirit,
Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?

ARIEL To every article

NARRATION Ariel is Prospero’s magical servant. He had been the servant of an
evil witch, Sycorax, who, angry with him one day, locked him in
a hollow pine tree.

8 I’ve given you a better education than most princesses get.
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NARRATION The witch died and Ariel was still in the tree when Prospero
landed in the island. With the magic he’d learnt from his books
Prospero freed him from the tree and made him his servant.

NARRATION Ariel reports what he’s done to the ship and all who were aboard.

PROSPERO But are they, Ariel, safe?

ARIEL Not a hair perished.
In troops I have dispersed them ’bout the isle.
The King’s son have I landed by himself.

PROSPERO Of the King’s ship? The mariners?

ARIEL Safely in harbour. The mariners I have left asleep.

PROSPERO Ariel, thy charge exactly is performed.
But there’s more work.

ARIEL Is there more toil?
Let me remember thee what thou hast promised.

PROSPERO What is’t thou canst demand?

ARIEL My liberty.9

PROSPERO Before the time be out? No more!

ARIEL I prithee, remember I have done thee worthy service. Thou didst
promise…

PROSPERO If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak and peg thee in his
knotty entrails. 10

ARIEL Pardon, master. I will do my spiriting gently.

PROSPERO Do so, and after two days
I will discharge thee.

ARIEL That’s my noble master! What shall I do? Say, what?

PROSPERO Go take this shape and be subject to no sight but thine and mine.
Find me Ferdinand, the King’s son.

9 Ariel is working for Prospero because he released him from the tree, but Prospero has promised to
free him eventually.
10 Any more complaints and I’ll stick you back in a tree.
7
PROSPERO might hand ARIEL a garment that makes him
invisible
EXIT ARIEL

PROSPERO Miranda, awake! Thou hast slept well.
Come on, we’ll visit Caliban, my slave.

MIRANDA ’Tis a villain, sir, I do not love to look on.

NARRATION Caliban, the other creature on the island when they arrived, is the
son of the witch who died. He thinks the island belongs to him
and resents Prospero and his magic.

PROSPERO Thou poisonous slave! Caliban, come forth!

ENTER CALIBAN

CALIBAN I must eat my dinner.
This island’s mine, by my mother, and now here you sty me in
this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me the rest o’th’island.

MIRANDA I pitied thee, took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
one thing or other.

CALIBAN You taught me language, and my profit on ’t is I know how to
curse.

PROSPERO Hag seed, hence!11 Fetch us in fuel. And be quick!

CALIBAN (aside) I must obey. His art is of such power.12

PROSPERO So, slave, hence!13

EXIT CALIBAN

ENTER FERDINAND led by ARIEL, who is invisible to all except
PROSPERO (and the audience). ARIEL wears the “cloak for to
go invisible.”

ARIEL, accompanied by OTHER SPIRITS sings/plays.

NARRATION This is Ferdinand, King Alonso’s son. Prospero wants him on his
own – it’s part of his plan.

11 Get out, you son of a witch!
12 He has such strong, magic powers.
13 Get out!
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ARIEL & SPIRITS Full fathom five thy father lies.
Of his bones are coral made.
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell.
Hark, now I hear them,
Hark, now I hear them.
Ding, dong bell,
Ding dong,
Ding, dong bell etc.

FERDINAND Where should this music be?
I have followed it, or it hath drawn me rather.

PROSPERO (to MIRANDA) Say what thou seest yond.

MIRANDA What is’t? A spirit?
Lord how it looks about! Believe me, sir,
It carries a brave form. But ’tis a spirit.

PROSPERO No, wench! It eats and sleeps and hath such senses as we have –
such. This gallant was in the wreck. And thou mightst call him a
goodly14 person.

MIRANDA I might call him a thing divine.

FERDINAND (Seeing MIRANDA) Most sure, the goddess on whom these airs
attend! Vouchsafe my prayer may know – O you wonder! – if
you be maid or no.15

MIRANDA No wonder, sir, but certainly a maid.

NARRATION It’s love at first sight.

NARRATION Which is exactly what Prospero wants…

NARRATION …but not this quickly. He doesn’t want it to be too easy.16

MIRANDA (aside) This is the third man that e’er I saw, the first that e’er I
sighed for.

FERDINAND (to MIRANDA) Oh, if a virgin, 17
And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you

14 handsome
15 O, you marvelous creature, are you a maiden or a goddess?
16 If it’s too easy, they’ll never appreciate the value of their love.
17 Ferdinand, as a Prince, would never marry someone who had been married.
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The Queen of Naples.

NARRATION Since he thinks he’s seen his father drown, Ferdinand thinks he’s
now the King of Naples. Prospero seizes his chance.

PROSPERO A word, good sir. Thou dost here usurp the name thou owest 18
not, and hast put thyself upon this island as a spy to win it.

FERDINAND No, as I am a man! 19

MIRANDA Father!

PROSPERO (to FERDINAND) Follow me.
(to MIRANDA) Speak not to him. He’s a traitor.
(to FERDINAND) Come.

FERDINAND No, I will resist
FERDINAND could draw his sword, but PROSPERO could cast
a spell on him to make him “freeze.”

MIRANDA Beseech you, father.20

PROSPERO (to MIRANDA) SILENCE!
(to FERDINAND) Come on. Obey.
Thy nerves 21are in their infancy again.

FERDINAND (able to move his limbs again, but now weary)
So they are. My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up.22

PROSPERO (aside to ARIEL who has been present all along)
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!
(to FERDINAND) Follow me!

MIRANDA (to FERDINAND) Be of comfort. My father is of a better nature
than he appears by speech.

PROSPERO (to ARIEL) Thou shalt be free. But exactly do all points of my
command.23

ARIEL To th’ syllable.

PROSPERO (to FERDINAND) Come, follow.
(to MIRANDA) Speak not for him.

18 Owest = own. So, that name doesn’t belong to you, you’re up to no good.
19 I swear that’s not true.
20 Please, father, I beg you.
21 Nerves = sinews or muscles. He’s as powerless as a baby.
22 My strength’s all gone, as if I was in a dream.
23 You must do exactly as I tell you.
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SEQUENCE 3
ENTER ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO and
other LORDS

NARRATION In another part of the island, Ferdinand’s sad father, King Alonso,
and the other noblemen are lost, looking for Ferdinand.

NARRATION Gonzalo, the one who helped Prospero, tries to keep their spirits
up.

GONZALO But the rarity of it is, that our garments, being, as they were,
drenched in the sea, are now as fresh as when we put them on.

ALONSO (angry – not finding Gonzalo’s optimism helpful)
You cram these words into mine ears against
The stomach of my senses.
My son is lost. O thou mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?

GONZALO Sir, he may live.

ALONSO No, no, he’s gone. Prithee, no more. Thou dost talk nothing to
me.

GONZALO I do well believe your highness, and did it to minister occasion to
these gentlemen who would laugh at nothing.24

ENTER ARIEL, invisible, playing solemn music which makes
them sleepy.

SEBASTIAN We would so.

ANTONIO (to GONZALO) Nay, my good lord, be not angry.

GONZALO No, I warrant you. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very
heavy?

ANTONIO Go sleep, and hear us.

All sleep except ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, and ANTONIO

ALONSO What, all so soon asleep?

ANTONIO We two, my lord
Will guard your person while you take your rest.

24 He’s apologizing to the King, saying he was just trying to make the others laugh.