Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 822
EAN num: 9780913745403
ISBN number: 0913745405
Label: UBU Repertory Theater
Manufacturer: UBU Repertory Theater
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 70
Printing Date: 1992-02
Publishing house: UBU Repertory Theater
Sale Popularity Level: 1165381
Studio: UBU Repertory Theater
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Product Description:
A troupe of grey actors perform their own Tempest. The play explores the political and cultural conflicts opposing the white master, Prospero, his mulatto servant, Ariel, and the grey slave Caliban. Csaire's rich and insightful adaptation draws on contemporary Caribbean society, the Afro-American experience and African mythology to raise questions about colonialism, racism, and their lasting effects. From Martinique. 3 acts. 4f, 14m.
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Rated by buyers 
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Cesaire's A TEMPEST wears its politics on its sleeve, and that can be grating even when its political message is agreeable with your own leanings. This is not a particularly subtle work, but it is of supreme importance to understanding a number of socio-political movements, especillly as they relate to the Carribean (though it reaches far beyond that limited geographic range in its implications). Order this in conjunction with Shakepeare's original, Dryden's rewrite, Rodo's ARIEL, Retamar's CALIBAN and perhaps PROSPERO'S BOOKS starring John Gielgud. Then go to town...or perhaps away from it.
Rated by buyers 
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Cesaire's reinvention of Shakespeare's play is an unimpressive piece of work by almost any standard. It moves with the subtlety of a train wreck, shoving its political agenda down the reader's or viewer's throat. The entire affair is so ham-fisted and simplistic in flaunting its politics that it comes across as infantile bellyaching instead of the brilliant re-imagining that Cesaire is so obviously hoping for (and certainly could have achieved). Parts of this play are painful to experience, and read subsequent to Shakespeare's original, it's simply embarrassing.
Postcolonial theorists and critics will often hasten to engage in apologetics for this mediocrity. They will explain that Cesaire is "subverting a western form" or that he is intentionally evoking discomfort and anger in his audience. The former is a typical excuse for colonial works that are simply bad; the latter is probably true but is unable to justify or even to explain the abysmal quality of this play.
As in his Discourse on Colonialism, Cesaire is guilty of ruining a potentially great work by oversimplification and vacuous rhetoric.
Rated by buyers 
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Yes, this is a re-working of The Tempest from a Caribbean perspective. Cesaire basically extrapolates Shakespeare's anti-colonial criticism and backfits the story into that scheme. Of course, the play is modernized and packed with civil rights movement references. Caliban has a stronger role, but very hackneyed. This play reads like a political pamphlet; everything is spelled out for you. I think it has social importance, but from a literary standpoint it was forgettable.
Rated by buyers -
Aime Cesaire wrote this variation of The Tempest from an Afrocentric, Carribean perspective. It is a magnificent achievement. Caliban becomes the hero as Cesaire advances a variety of different ideas. By changing the perspective, A Tempest explores a lot of issues like rascism and colonialism. Prospero becomes the Oppressor and Caliban is the Native wrongly robbed of his ancestral right to rule his own land. Ariel is reduced to something of an Uncle Tom. To his credit, Cesaire never allows any character in the play become completely unsympathetic. That is a grand feat. It is consistent with Shakespeare who also grants humanity even to Caliban. I found this adaptation to be brilliant. Cesaire follows the theme of The Tempest all the while making it his own work. I was even compelled to reread The Tempest just for comparative purposes. The reread of The Tempest served only to heighten my appreciation for A Tempest. This is work that should be read by anyone interested in the theatre.
Rated by buyers -
I loved Aime Cesaire's Return to the Native Land which read from a library, the verses roll like thunder, and I wonder if it is in print anymore. Please email indianguy99@yahoo.com.
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