I first read The Tempest as a junior in high school, and I really didn't care for it. I liked it well enough, but I didn't connect with it in the same way that I had with other plays by Shakespeare, particularly the tragedies, which probably appealed to the melodramatic angsty teen in me. I also remember our teacher making us watch a truly horrific tv adaptation that relocates the story to the swamps of Louisiana during the Civil War, and that wretchedness still lingers in my psyche.

I encountered it again in a college Shakespeare class that emphasized a theatrical reading over a literary one, and I realized so much of what I had missed the first time around.

My love for it was finally solidified when I was able to see an actual performance of it -- in this case the July Taymor/Helen Mirren film adaptation. (The trailer is very Taymor-y, but don't let that deter you -- it is a really incredible film. The performances are remarkable, especially Felicity Jones and Helen Mirren, and the production design is amazing). I'd really like to see it performed live but I've never had the opportunity. The next time it's performed at Stratford, I'll be there front and center.

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