Climate Change Shakespeare. “A Midsummer’s Tempest”

On this year’s Edinburgh Fringe a raft of reimaginings of Shakespeare’s plays, by emerging and established companies jostle for punters’ attention. Hamstrung, Migrant Shakespeare, A Method in Madness, Malvolio’s Fantasy, Henry, are among the offerings. While it is true that it’s been some years that an entire five-act Shakespeare play has seen the light of day on the Fringe, the surge in revisitations is undeniable to the point that one promoter suggested to me that the phenomenon might amount to a new genre. As a critic, but also the creator of several Shakespeare rewrites, I am particularly interested in exploring what writers and companies are up to. So let’s get down to the Space venue at the historic Surgeons’ Hall, for the world premiere of A Midsummer’s Tempest, presented and produced by The Edinburgh University Shakespeare Co. The mind behind the show is co-director, writer and environmentalist Julie Rose Lisa who worked for nearly a decade at the acclaimed Los Angeles-based Shakespeare theatre, Theatricum Botanicum, well-known for its rethinking of Shakespeare plays, with a focus on contemporary issues and politics. Today Lisa, together with co-director Riley Behrens, is at the helm of a talented group of university students from Scotland and beyond. In a brief interview I asked about her creative process. She explained that the playscript, a medley of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, and Macbeth, reflecting her interests in climate change, patriarchy, women’s rights, and colonialism, has been long in the making. On the other hand, rehearsals online and in the theatre were relatively short, during which she aimed to teach the group the skills needed to deliver the Shakespeare verse, followed by a month of rehearsals when actors were off book and developing their onstage physicality. This method has paid off. A Midsummer’s Tempest, set in Edinburgh, opens with lines from the initial storm scene in The Tempest, in which the Boatswain, Gonzalo, etc, think they are about to die. We feel the mounting tension, the roaring sea being suggested by sound effects and a simple blue cloth, agitated by two actors downstage. Then suddenly the action shifts to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the heated exchange between Egeus (Leon Murray) and his daughter Hermia (Freya McColl), who refuses to marry the man her father has chosen. Later in the play, Titania’s (Fay Jurriaanse) so-called climate change monologue is foregrounded by the actor’s sensitive and skilful delivery and strong stage presence, while Oberon (Michael Butler) stays silent, his body language, showing a spectrum of emotions. There was a hush in the theatre as the Queen of the Fairies came to her conclusion, concerning the reason for the flooding and destruction of the harvest: “And this same progeny comes/ from our debate, our dissension/ we are the parents and original.” We are left in no doubt, where Shakespeare lays the blame. We humans must take responsibility for the climate crisis, past and present. The play concludes with a new ending, or beginning, for some characters; Helena (Eve Nugent), for example, chooses her independence rather than marrying Demetrius (Steve Hardie Colgan), who has treated her so badly, and Caliban (Olivia Dale) finishes up happily among his flowers, without needing to ‘seek for grace’ as he announces in Shakespeare’s play. A play, with a focus on climate change and the environment, will almost inevitably use recycled costumes and props. The creative resourcefulness of costume and props designer Sadie Hemming shines forth in the costumes but also in one particular prop. Coming across a fallen tree, she has fashioned Bottom’s (Rose Sarafilovic) donkey’s head out of its bark.

Rose Sarafilovic in A Midsummer’s Tempest, co-directed by Julie Rose Lisa and Riley Behrens. Edinburgh Fringe 2024.