PROVIDENCE — While translating William Shakespeare’s works into a variety of languages is nothing new, the unique, au courant bilingual adaptation of “The Tempest,” being performed by Trinity Repertory Company from March 27-April 27, is taking the Bard’s romantic comedy (with tragic elements, of course) to another level.
“La Tempestad–The Tempest” is performed in English and in Spanish, which, according to Trinity Rep artistic director Curt Columbus, allows audiences to experience the play in a more nuanced manner.
“Our co-creators are calling it a ‘tradaptation’” … a translation and adaptation where the audiences will hear Shakespeare as well as a really beautiful Spanish translation that’s been woven throughout,” he said, noting that there will be supertitles incorporated into the set design. “And characters speak in one language or another for very clear reasons, which have to do with their characters as much as anything else.”
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“The very act of listening to Shakespeare “means you have to lean into the language in the first place, as well as read the character cues and physical cues,” Columbus said.
“It’s a really vibrant, colorful, rich, movement-filled production,” he added. “I promise you, if you allow yourself to be immersed in that joy, you won’t notice what language anyone is speaking because, of course, we are all human and ultimately Shakespeare is the greatest humanist [who] basically says, ‘We may say things in different ways, but here we are all together, grappling with being together.‘”
“La Tempestad” was originally developed in 2018 as a touring production for Teatro en El Verano, Rhode Island Latino Arts, and Trinity Rep’s joint bilingual summer theater program. This production marks the first time a Teatro en El Verano production has debuted on Trinity’s main stage in the 252-seat Dowling Theater.
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That, according to co-adaptor and translator Orlando Hernández, an actor, director, choreographer, and writer, is a game-changer.
While playing in parks and other public spaces with a bare-bones set in a summer touring production is a “beautiful, fun, and creative” process, he said being on Trinity Rep’s main stage adds a whole new dimension to the production.
“Just being in the room on the first day of rehearsal, I was reminded of how huge the team is to make something like this happen. It’s such a gift. You have so many people working in their field of expertise toward this thing,” Hernández said. “The production value is going to be on another level and there’s going to be an immersion into this world on the island.”
Hernández, who adapted and translated the play with Tatyana-Marie Carlo and Leandro “Kufa” Castro, said choreographer Jackie Davis brings “the tempest, the actual storm, to life.” The production is being directed by Christie Vela.
Hernández said that doing a monthlong run in one theater, on one stage, allows the creative team to “get more granular and even deeper” into the story they’re telling. It also provides each actor with an opportunity to delve more deeply into “the arc of the character throughout the play.”
And while “The Tempest” was written in the early 1600s — and is thought to be Shakespeare’s last play written on his own — Columbus said that the “linguistic and political frame” is more relevant than ever.
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“Shakespeare’s play is about colonialism. He’s talking about when European countries move into islands that are inhabited by people who are already there, so there is a colonialist theme that is already baked into ‘The Tempest.’ By having … certain characters speak Spanish and others speak English, we’re trying to highlight the way that colonialist impulse expresses itself linguistically,” he said. “But I do want to stress that the production itself doesn’t linger on any of that. That’s for the audience to discuss. The production is about Shakespeare’s play and this kind of magical, fantastical, mythical, effervescent world.”
Hernández, who is Puerto Rican, noted there is a large Caribbean population in Rhode Island, and that factor played greatly into the original and current adaptation.
“The play deals with these questions of home and when does a place become your home both from the perspective of people coming to a place and making it their home, and also from an indigenous perspective of people’s homes and land being taken from them,” he said, adding that the tempest, Prospero’s manufactured hurricane, can be tied into Hurricane Maria, which in 2017 damaged much of the Caribbean — and especially Puerto Rico.
“So we look at the connections between the forces of these natural disasters and then social disasters and these different ways a changing climate and landscape is affecting those questions of who gets to call which places home and be in control of their own destinies … and this kind of relationship with land and place,” he said.
As serious and intense as some of these issues are, Hernández was quick to point out that audience members attending “La Tempestad–The Tempest” can expect “a party.”
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“It’s a play with a lot of music and a lot of magic. … I think they can expect those things but with the particular beauty of Caribbean and Mexican and Colombian music and culture.”
One of Trinity’s goals is to appeal to all audiences on a variety of levels, Columbus said
“You can sit and enjoy [the performance] and not even think about the political frame,” he said.
“But there are those who are going to want to discuss that and grapple with it, and this play is for them as well.”
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit trinityrep.com.
Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this report misspelled the name of Trinity Repertory’s artistic director. Curt Columbus is Trinity’s artistic director.