The Tempest

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William Shakespeare watches the film Forbidden Planet, paradoxically inspiring several elements of The Tempest. (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

The Tempest was a romantic comedy play by William Shakespeare. (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

History

Writing process

Early thoughts

Shakespeare was inspired to write a shipwreck story out of a desire to "cash-in" on Strachey's Sea Venture, though he first made sure to check Thomas Middleton wasn't already doing something similar. In his working notes, before settling on The Tempest as the title for the play, Shakespeare considered many other candidates, including: The Shipwreck, All At Sea, The Storm, The Strong Wind, The Very Strong Wind, The Gust, The Extremely Strong Wind, The Squall, and The Very Strong Tempest. He also listed several items Blackfriars had which could be used, such as nets, lobster pots, and a sand dune backdrop previously used in Pericles and The Winter's Tale. However, he made a note to himself to make sure they did not use real fish on this occasion on account of it having a bad smell and being a waste of fish.

With regards to a plot, Shakespeare first envisioned the play as a "love story" featuring a boy and girl and feuding fathers who were Kings or Dukes of somewhere in Italy, possibly Milan or Naples. He also noted the requirement for some "clown business", considering a variety of professions which would work for someone at sea, and later writing that a double-act had potential. Shakespeare then outlined "political intrigue" as another important theme and devised a storyline in which one Duke (now definitely from Milan) had deposed the other and exiled the deposed Duke to an island which ended in the usurper being shipwrecked on the island and the deposed Duke murdering him. However, he scrapped this "revenge tragedy" upon reminding himself the brief was for a romantic comedy with a masque section, revising the plot so that the boy and girl would get married and the deposed Duke would forgive the usurper rather than kill him, after which "everybody goes home". Shakespeare did recognise the plot hole of the usurper not killing the deposed Duke when he had the chance but resolved to think up a good reason at a later date.

As a twist, Shakespeare decided he could put the shipwreck at the beginning of the play and set the whole thing on the island. This was to demonstrate to Johnson that he could "do Aristotelian unities", with the action taking place in real-time. He briefly contemplated calling the play Two Hours in reference to this but firmly underlined a "No" next to this suggestion in his working notes. Shakespeare also wished to work in a chess scene to it being a "popular craze" which "always" got sponsorship. Possible ways for this scene to materialise included the Dukes playing chess, a chess-themed song and dance, and the boy and girl playing chess. Additonally, The Tempest would also serve to show off Blackfriars Theatre's new special effects, with Shakespeare jotting down off-stage sound effects and music, trap-doors and a surprise water cannon for inclusion.

Fleshing out the characters a little more, Shakespeare decided the Dukes could be brothers, adding in a family angle while also explaining their reluctance to kill each other. On the subject of the Dukes' wives, Shakespeare put down that they were either dead or at home in Naples. He also wrote that the usurper Duke would be helped by the King of Naples and at some point would attempt to kill his ally, only to be stopped by the deposed Duke in what the playwright himself described as "nice irony". Pondering the fate of the shipwrecked ship's crew, Shakespeare judged it to be a "bit grim" for a comedy if they all drowned, instead weighing up as alternatives either that they were just lost on the island or that the Duke and the King were the only ones swept overboard. He also considered the possibility of the shipwrecked ship being undamaged to allow everyone to go home at the end but deemed this a "bit implausible", highlighting in addition to this the already-quite-large coincidence that the usurper Duke ended up on the same island as the deposed Duke, though he also acknowledged that he "got away with it" in both The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night.

Meanwhile, having evidently ruled that the comedy double-act would indeed be a double-act, Shakespeare conceived they would get drunk on wine from the shipwreck. He also planned for them to appear in a "funny dressing-up scene", commenting that enormous trousers were "always hilarious". Around this time Shakespeare tried to give the two Dukes names. He settled on Prospero for the deposed Duke upon determining he needed a wealthy-sounding name but failed to have similar success for the usurper Duke. He went with Antonio, with the major caveat it would be a placeholder only due to Shakespeare having already used that name on four separate occasions.

Deeming the play to be "missing something", Shakespeare reviewed possible additions he could make. He first thought about pirates, then primitives who worshipped a giant squid. However, he concluded this was "impractical" and that he could do monkeys. After this, his mind moved on to cannibals, then cannibals who worshipped a monkey and finally to cannibals who worshipped a bear. Shakespeare left a note to himself alongside this last suggestion, warning himself to use a man in a bear suit rather than a real bear "after last time". (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

Involvement of the Tenth Doctor

Despite the development of his concepts up to this point, Shakespeare was dissatisfied because it felt like he was repeating himself. Acknowledging the chance he might be "getting too old for this game" and running out of ideas, he strongly considered getting "young Johnny Fletcher" in to co-write but steadfastly rejected the notion of collaborating with George Wilkins again. He went on to write in his notes that perhaps he should quit while he was ahead and retire to the country, describing The Tempest as "all a bit ordinary" and "going-through-the-motions", with definitely not enough material for five acts. This assessment was somehow met by agreement from an unidentified author, who had apparently tampered with Shakespeare's notes as he slept. The culprit was in fact the Tenth Doctor who, having missed meeting Shakespeare by a few months, "popped in" to see Jack the paper merchant to scribble on the sheet of paper he would buy in two months' time, able to write replies because he also possessed a copy of that very manuscript from the future, which he picked up while proofreading the First Folio. He realised the reasons that this method of communication worked at all were a "bit timey-wimey" and advised Shakespeare not to think about it too much. Citing the poor state of the fabric of time as the reason for his intervention into the creative process, the Doctor told Shakespeare he had left a parcel with Jack which contained a Blu-ray player and the film Forbidden Planet. The Doctor went on to explain that the film had been inspired by the play Shakespeare was about to write and consequently encouraged him to "raid it for ideas", claiming such an act was "not stealing" because "in a way" they were Shakepeare's own ideas.

Imbued with new thoughts, Shakespeare opted to keep the island, the shipwreck and the surprise water cannon. He also altered the character of Prospero so he was not just a Duke but also a wizard who studied books of magic, though he was still uncertain as to whether Prospero had taken them with him to the island or developed magic powers whilst there or both. Using a magic staff, Prospero caused a storm which brought the usurper Duke to the island, negating the nagging coincidence of the two Dukes ending up in the same place. The magic shipwreck also served to explain why only the usurper Duke, the King of Naples, the Duke's son, the courtiers and the funny servants came to shore, with the boat and the rest of the crew asleep on the other side of the island. Shakespeare also expressed a desire for Prospero to have a "metal man to carry out orders", briefly thinking of a robot as in the film, before changing this to a fairy or familiar spirit as he was not keen on the resemblance there would be to a suit of armour, thinking the audience would "never buy it". Shakespeare called this character Ariel upon concluding his search for a suitably "windy name" and also made a note to himself to check that the Puck costume was still in the stores.

Shakespeare then moved onto fleshing out the Ariel character's part in the play. He first amended the details of the love story so that the girl was Prospero's daughter, who was exiled to the island with him and had never seen another man. Experiencing love at first sight as soon as she laid eyes upon the boy, Prospero used Ariel to put him "through the mill a bit" to check the boy was truly worthly of his daughter. Shakespeare also had Prospero use Ariel to "sort out" the court intrigue portion of the play, saving the King of Naples' life and using a "force field" to make weapons freeze in air to achieve this purpose. Finally, Shakespeare also got Ariel involved with the clowns, writing that Ariel could lead them into a swamp. Liking the idea of doing something with invisibility but doubtful of Blackfriars' capabilities, he also made Ariel invisible, albeit not to the audience, and integrated this feature into the plot with the "people-being-pinched-by-invisible-attacker gag", which the playwright had last used "ages" prior for A Midsummer Night's Dream, banking on nobody remembering it.

Shakespeare later observed the play would give him a chance to "show off" the acoustics of Blackfriars. He wrote in his notes that in one scene Ariel coud be singing from behind the audience, with music coming from a hidden musician's gallery. He also detailed that in the masque section Prospero would summon up an invisible band and dancing fairies who would appear and vanish using trapdoors.

Shakespeare then turned his attention to a much-needed "baddie" for the piece. His first thought was that the monster could be an ancient alien who built a machine, or perhaps a primitive. Willing himself to "think anagrams" in order to find a "cannibally name", he questioned whether this could be a whole tribe or only one and reminded himself to check the budget. Instead of an ancient alien machine, Shakespeare settled on a witch who had been exiled to Prospero's island. The primitive was her servant and son, with the witch also creating Ariel. At some point after this, the witch died, leaving the primitive alone on the island. Shakespeare was initially unusure exactly what became of Ariel but eventually settled on him becoming trapped in a magic tree after considering being buried in either fathoms of the Earth or in the sea five fathoms deep as alternatives, eventually to be set free by Prospero. Meanwhile, the playwright paired the primitive up with the clown double-act, during which time he would get drunk on wine and dress up in "hilarious" trousers, the latter as part of another of Ariel's magic pranks. Believing The Tempest might have been his last play, Shakespeare decided to call the witch Sycorax as a "little thank you" to the Doctor, (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress) who originally gave him the name. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)

Coming to the end of the play, Shakespeare detailed in his notes a "big show-down" between Prospero and the witch which was to feature duelling magic staffs, lots of explosions, smoke and "trapdoor business". However, he underlined a reminder to check if the witch costume was still in store, conceding the witch might have to be kept off-stage if not. He also summarised that the three plot lines (the court intrigue, the love story and the comedy business with the clowns and the primitive) would all be "sorted out" by Prospero and Ariel. After this, Prospero set Ariel free and gave up his magic staff and books because, as Shakespeare phrased it, "the dream [was] over" and it was "time to return to [the] real world". However, the playwright wavered over whether this ending was "too easy" and if he could claim it was a deliberate Deus ex machina to impress Johnson, debating if there was a potential gag in Dukes ex machina. Brushing aside these concerns, he stated in his notes his belief that he was "nearly there" and that the rest of the story would "write itself", predicting it "should be a real crowd-pleaser".

At this point the Doctor returned to Shakespeare's notes to help him with some of the remaining character names. He listed off two moons of the then-undiscovered planet Uranus Miranda and Ferdinand for the girl and boy but this still left Shakespeare needing to find a name he had never used before for the King of Naples. The Doctor assured him "Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something" before signing off with the words "Allons-y, Alonso!", thus giving the King his name. (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

Later drafts

During the course of an unrelated adventure, a version of Shakespeare native to 1597 attempted to force the Fifth Doctor to take him back to Richard III's home time of 1485. While Shakespeare threatened the Doctor and his companions with what he believed to be a Sontaran grenade, a publisher's robot from the 64th century materialised in the TARDIS and told him that his second draft of The Tempest was 7103 years overdue for delivery. It chased him out of the TARDIS and into the raging Battle of Bosworth, where Shakespeare was mistaken for King Richard and killed, with the real Richard ultimately replacing Shakespeare in 1597 to preserve the course of history. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) In the 2010s, Adrian Davies acknowledged "the fascinating enigma of [the play]'s not-finishedness". (TV: The Caretaker)

Legacy

In the 1950s, the film entitled Forbidden Planet was made (PROSE: In Search of Doctor X) based on The Tempest, by which time Shakespeare's works were out of copyright. As stated above, the film paradoxically served as inspiration for the 17th century play due to the actions of the Doctor, (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress) with its character of Robby the Robot (PROSE: Grimm Reality) the direct basis for Ariel.

In their written conversation as part of Shakespeare's working notes for the play, the Doctor mused that he would "probably" post the manuscript anonymously to the British Library "or something" to give the experts something to argue about. Whatever the result of this, the manuscript would survive into the 21st century as part of the Shakespeare Notebooks. A non-fiction book which reprinted much of the Notebooks stated that the working notes for The Tempest were cited by sceptics "for obvious reasons" more than any other extract as anachronistic proof of the Notebooks' inauthenticity. (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

At Coal Hill School in the 2010s, The Tempest was studied by sixth form students as part of a Shakespeare module. At one point, Clara Oswald and Adrian Davies spent time specifically discussing The Tempest in light of changes which had been made to the module. (TV: The Caretaker)

References

The Fifth Doctor quoted the play, saying, "The stuff that dreams are made of," to Todd, while outside of Panna's cave. (TV: Kinda)

The Ninth Doctor once quoted Miranda, saying "Brave new world, that has such people in it". (AUDIO: Sphere of Freedom)

Behind the scenes

• The title of the audio story Full Fathom Five is a reference to the line "Full fathom five thy father lies" from The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2.
• The title of the short story What's Past is Prologue is a quotation from The Tempest Act 2, Scene 1.