SHAKESPEARE THEATRE OF S.B COLLEGE

   William Shakespeare's " The tempest" staged by the Shakespeare Theatre of St Berchman's College at 7 pm on Saturday 26th February,2011. The play, which is the 20th production of the 75-year old Shakespeare Theater of the college, is being produced jointly by the Arts club and the Department of English and coincides with the qua tercentenary of the first performance of the play in 1611.
  The story of the play is set in a remote island uninhabited except for prospero, the exited Duke of Milan, his daughter Miranda, their slave Caliban, and the attending airy spirit Ariel.
    With his magical powers, prospero raises a storm in the sea near the island, in which the ship carrying the King of Naples Alonso, his son Ferdinannd, Prospero's brother and usurper to the throne of Milan, Antonio, and others, is wrecked.
The voyagers are scattered on the island in several groups. They are drawn to the veige of madness by the strange music and atmosphere of the island. Ferdinad, who is left alone, is brought by Ariel near prospero's cell where he meets the beautiful Miranda.
     They fall in love and Ferdinaand has to undergo the trials and tribulations imposed by prospero to test the veracity of his love.
   The other stranded men finally reach prospero's place where prospero reveals his identity and the desire to return to Milan.
    The play ends with their reconciliation, the pair of lovers is blessed by their fathers and others for a blissful married life. The final scene where prospero renounces hismagic is interpreted as symbolic of Shakespear's bidding farewell to the stage.
     the Shakespeare Theater is staging in the Tempest' for the first time. The club was inaugurated in 1937 with the staging of "Macbeth' directed by the veteran English Professor and Malayalam Literary critic M.P Paul. The theater was taken to greater heights  by well known professors such as CA Sheppard and A.E Augustine.  The evergreen hero of Malayalam cinema Prem Nazir had his acting debut as Shylock in" The Merchant of Venice" (1951) directed by Sheppard. K.J John, KJ Francis, K.V Joseph and Dr C.C Thomas directed various plays. Prof Gigy Joseph is the director of "The Tempest" in which Prof A.J Thomas, Dr Jose P.Jacob, Tania Ann Jose, and Paul Jose Mattom enact the lead roles.

Prof.John Kurakar