THE TEMPEST at the TRON GLASGOW

This production contains a young , mainly female , cast in a play that is sometimes criticised for the lack of depth and independence of the female parts in an otherwise play which tells a narrative of the "other" from the point of view of the victim.

"The text has been slightly edited" is a part of the blurb that may disconcert many in the audience , but , as Mike Scott defended his changing of the words of W.B.Yeats to fit in the the "music" of his tribute album an artists , no matter how legendary , work should be a source of faithful admiration , not a dogma to be beholden to.

And so director Andy Arnold allows Aime Cesaire have the first and last words in this production which gives prominence to the post-colonial themes of the play by writers from the colonies telling the story of their people to the descendants of the colonialists.

"Usurped as the Duke of Milan by his brother Antonio and the King of Naples, Prospero and his daughter Miranda are exiled to live on a remote island, served by their deformed slave Caliban, the island’s only inhabitant, and the spirit Ariel. Using the magic arts, Prospero rules over the island and when he divines that his enemies are close by, sees the opportunity to wreak his long-awaited revenge.  Conjuring up a terrifying storm, he shipwrecks the men responsible for his banishment, using every element of sorcery in his gift to orchestrate his rightful return home. 
Magic and the supernatural abound in Shakespeare’s famous colonial play, as Prospero’s control of the elements underpins his journey from betrayal to revenge and ultimate forgiveness.
Performed by the postgraduate acting students from the MA in Classical and Contemporary Text programme."

This review from The Herald gives a good background to the play and production.

"Coincidentally, I had been talking top the RCS about doing a classic piece, and that is why I thought of doing The Tempest, but taking a different slant on it, heightening the colonial elements that are in it. It has always been a colonial play, but in this production, Caliban is very much played as someone with great dignity and who has a certain moral authority in the piece, and that makes it a very appropriate piece."
Arnold has also opted to open and close the play with words by Cesaire, who, as well as a life's work as a writer, thinker and activist, taught radical thinker Frantz Fanon, who, like Cesaire, was born on the island of Martinique.
"Cesaire has become an important part of the festival," says Arnold. "When I thought about looking at colonialism in Mayfesto, I knew I wanted some kind of staging of Cesaire's epic poem Return To My Native Land, which I have had on my bedside table, as it were, since my student days. It is a really powerful, visceral and beautiful poem to stage, so I knew I wanted that to be part of Mayfesto.
"I was not familiar with Cesaire's other work, although I had heard of A Season In The Congo from a production at the Young Vic. Then I found out he had done his own version of The Tempest, called A Tempete, in which Caliban is more of a freedom fighter and Prospero is a white slave trader. There is a beautiful prologue and epilogue, in which Caliban has the last word, so I have topped and tailed this production with Cesaire's words, as well as programming readings of these other pieces as part of Mayfesto as a homage to this great unsung writer."

The young cast brilliantly acted the play with some stunning facial expressions which would have given a deep emotional depth to the production even without the need for words.

The play is part of the Mayfesto Festival which has a theme of Colonisation as told by the victims which is a very suitable one for the year in which the city hosts the Commonwealth Games.The video below gives an indication of the types of work on display.