At its heart is an exiled king who discovers refuge on an island alive with enchantment — an island where storms crackle, spirits weave mischief, and visions shimmer into being. Prospero towers above the action on stilts, commanding the elements in a spectacle that is as striking visually as it is thematically. Yet the very magic he seeks to control ultimately challenges him to rethink power, freedom, and responsibility.

Performed by acclaimed professional touring troupe Come you Spirits, The Tempest demonstrates the transformative power of theatre not only as performance, but as a tool for empathy, inquiry, and discovery.

The detailed post show Q&A run by the cast and company Directors provides immediate opportunity to unpack challenging language, design and performance choices. 

A comprehensive Learning Kit will be provided to teachers upon booking. This contains production photos, Directors notes, information on sound design and composition, costume design and historical context.

KEY THEMES:
Power and Control
Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Freedom and Servitude
Illusion and Reality
Colonisation and Otherness
Nature and the Supernatural
Justice and Betrayal
Redemption and Renewal

Deepen Understanding of Shakespeare’s Language and Meaning
Come you Spirits Theatre Incorporated brings The Tempest to life through an immersive and physically dynamic performance style, blending movement, sound, and audience engagement to create a visceral connection with Shakespeare’s text. The company’s unique approach encourages students to experience the play as a living, sensory work of art rather than a static text. This live experience helps students interpret Shakespeare’s complex language, rhythm, and tone in an embodied way. Combining all the elements of fully realised stagecraft, with actors’ delivery, pauses, and gestures clarify meanings that can be difficult to access through reading alone.

This production features First Nations actor and dancer Ella Havelka (Australian Ballet, Bangarra) as Ariel, whose physical expressiveness and cultural grounding add new dimensions to the play’s exploration of freedom, identity, and connection to Country. Students gain insight into how contemporary Australian theatre reinterprets Shakespeare through a First Nations lens—enhancing their understanding of context, representation, and reimagining classical works.

Curriculum link:
• EN11-1 / EN12-1: responds to and composes complex texts for understanding, interpretation, analysis, and pleasure.
• EN11-5 / EN12-5: thinks imaginatively, creatively, interpretively, and critically.

Highlight Different Interpretations and Contexts
This production offers bold directorial choices about context, characterisation, and themes (e.g., colonisation, power, forgiveness, magic and gender roles), allowing students to compare interpretations and analyse how meaning is shaped by context and production choices.

Curriculum link:
• EN11-6 / EN12-6: investigates and evaluates the relationships between texts.
• EN11-8 / EN12-8: explains and evaluates how texts reflect different values and perspectives.

Support Analysis of Dramatic Form and Conventions
Shakespeare was written to be performed. This production is rich with stagecraft and spectacle - set design, lighting, costume (including Prospero on stilts), and sound all working in balance to bring meaning. Students can see how these elements reinforce themes and characterisation, enhancing their understanding of dramatic conventions.

Curriculum link:
• EN11-3 / EN12-3: analyses the ways that texts are structured and shaped by purpose, audience, context, and mode.

Build Empathy and Personal Engagement
Witnessing The Tempest in performance engages students emotionally and intellectually. Experiencing the longing for freedom from Ariel and Caliban, and Prospero’s moral struggle in real time promotes empathy and a personal connection to the text.

Curriculum link:
• EN11-9 / EN12-9: reflects on, evaluates, and monitors their own learning to extend personal and social understanding.

Enhance Comparative Study and Creative Response Tasks 
Seeing the unique Come you Spirits imagining of The Tempest provides inspiration for multimodal and creative responses (e.g reimagining a scene, composing a monologue, or designing a set). It also supports comparative analysis if students are studying The Tempest alongside a related text in Module A (e.g Hagseed). 

Curriculum link:
• Module A: Textual Conversations (Advanced) – compare texts and contexts.
• Common Module: Reading to Write (Year 11) or Module B: Critical Study of Literature – analyse language and aesthetic features to form judgments.

Strengthen Assessment and Examination Responses
Students who have seen The Tempest performed can recall visual and auditory details that enrich textual analysis. Referring to production elements in essays demonstrates sophisticated understanding and engagement. 

Curriculum link:
• EN11-2 / EN12-2: uses and evaluates processes, skills, and knowledge required to effectively respond to and compose texts.