Daniels take a field trip to see “The

Tempest”….

On Friday March 30, students and faculty

from the ETC Pittsburgh took a field trip to

the Byham Theater to attend a cutting edge

high tech performance of “The Tempest” by

Shakespeare.

4-D Art, the producing company, hails from

Quebec. The Tempest is their first production

of a classic play, done in conjunction with

Theatre du Nouveau Monde.

In this “Tempest”, performed in French with

Shakepearean English subtitles, only

Prospero, Miranda, Fernando and Ariel/

Caliban (roles shared by one actor) are real.

All the other characters are virtual,

sometimes appearing on the same plane as

the live actors, at other times as a looming

head or torso behind. The characters

appeared literally out of nowhere, sometimes

in a swirling holographic whirl. The play's

overall effect was both truly magical; creating

through technology another world entirely,

making Prospero's words resonate in a whole

new way……

These our actors,

. . . were all spirits and

Are melted into air, into thin air.

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,

. . . shall dissolve

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a wrack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on . . . .