SF0220 The Tempest (Shakespeare Part Two)

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

Don’t worry, the podcast isn’t coming to an end; rather, welcome to the second part – you might almost say the second act – in our three-part Shakespeare series, and to these last words of the Shakespearean late romance, The Tempest.

There are a multitude of themes in the play – rather more, it’s fair to say, than in our previous Bard-themed episode, The Comedy of Errors. I’ve picked out three – other themes are available.

The Tempest is, as we would say now, very meta – it deals with the theatre itself, frequently drawing links between Prospero’s art and theatrical illusion. In the quote above, the great globe might actually mean the great Globe Theatre itself.

“They being penitent, the sole drift of my purpose doth extend not a frown further.” It’s a play about revenge and forgiveness, perhaps fitting for a playwright coming to the end of his career with, no doubt, his fair share of literary rivals.

And perhaps also appropriate for a late play, it’s about magic; and in a world where magic carried almost entirely negative associations – the witches in Macbeth being much closer to contemporary mores – in The Tempest the magic is linked not so much to alchemy as the possibility of transformation in people. Is our author considering whether it’s too late for he himself to change?

So much for Shakespeare. The episode itself sticks to a more literal lane of tempests, storms, thunder, lightning and conflagrations. There’s a wide variety of genres – art pop, reggae, girl band, chamber pop, dubstep,dream pop and post-rock amongst the post-punk etc. And the years covered stretch over half a century, from The Ronettes’ ‘Walking in the Rain’ in 1964 right up to ‘Conflagration Mindset’ by Cola, time stamped May 2026.

I hope you enjoy the episode.