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Indiana University’s First International Production Creates a Tempest in South Africa
Theatre and Drama Professor Murray McGibbon in 2004 conceived the ambitious project, which would see six IU students travel to South Africa to work alongside fourteen students from the University of KwaZulu Natal in Pietermaritzburg. McGibbon received a New Frontiers Grant funded by the Lilly Endowment. One of the top seven largest grants awarded in the three years of the highly competitive program, the grant was originally scheduled to support the project in summer of 2006, but the production was delayed a year due to its scale and complexity. The IU contingent included director McGibbon, Alyson Bloom (Miranda), Carmund White (Caliban), Michael Aguirre (Ferdinand), Jon Wargo (Antonio), Timothy Speicher (Alonso), Annie King, (who was the videographer) along with Professor Jonathan Michaelsen, Chair of the IU Theatre and Drama Department. The group flew to South Africa on June 15th and was accommodated in two apartments within Denison Residence on the UKZN campus, a few minutes walk from The Hexagon Theatre where the production was to be rehearsed and staged. Professor McGibbon and Stephen Gurney, one of South Africa’s most eminent professional actors, who played Prospero, also lived in small apartments on the campus. Let the Rehearsals Begin!
Using rehearsal methods and philosophies of the legendary Sir Peter Brook, McGibbon set out to fashion a unique, African version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. “I have never been so nervous in all my life”, says McGibbon about the first rehearsal. “Despite the fact that I had done nearly three years of research and reading about The Tempest, I had only a vague ‘formless hunch’ of how the show was to be realized on stage. I knew I wanted it to be set on a mythical island off the east coast of South Africa, that I wanted to experiment with non-traditional casting and that -- most importantly -- I wanted to discover the text in the rehearsal room along with the actors, feeding off their creative ideas and energies. It was very important to me that the themes of redemption, forgiveness, and what it means to be human, which Shakespeare weaves into the play, would find a powerful resonance with the African audiences who would see it. It needed to have a startling, even uncomfortable relevance. Apart from that, I started blocking act one, scene one with not one pencil marking in my script.” Working with a very disparate group of actors ranging from a top class professional to an undergraduate who was appearing in his first-ever production, presented numerous challenges for the director and cast, but the overwhelming spirit of goodwill that permeated the company, and their deep love and respect for the work at hand, smoothed out many of the obstacles that can be commonplace in an artistically risky process such as this.
Connecting with Earth, Sand, Sea, and Sky To relieve the intensity of the weekly rehearsals, McGibbon had planned excursions for the IU students. “I wanted to give them a taste of real South African life, beyond the confines of Pietermaritzburg,” he said. “So I organized weekend excursions to a traditional Zulu Village, the Drakensberg Mountains, the Indian Ocean, and the Hluhluwe Game Reserve.” These excursions proved enormously attractive to the American students, who not only experienced some of South Africa’s most beautiful natural sights, but also viewed lion, elephant, rhinoceros and giraffe in the wild.
McGibbon intends to apply for further funding to re-stage the production on the IU Campus, bringing Stephen Gurney and several students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, so that they might have a similar experience to the one the American students gained from living and working in a foreign country. “Our students benefited significantly from this international experience; now I want Bloomington audiences to absorb some of what we discovered, learned and created.” “So, our revels are not quite yet ended,” says McGibbon with his typical energy and enthusiasm. REPRINTED FWITH PERMISSION FROM STAGES 2007, Marilyn Norris, Editor
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After three years of detailed research, planning, and organizing, THE AFRICAN TEMPEST PROJECT finally became a reality this past summer.
Rehearsals began in earnest on Monday June 18th, with voice workshops taught by Professor Jonathan Michaelsen, movement classes taught by Mbongeni Mtshali, (who also served as costume designer and choreographer), and a series of “getting to know you” exercises led by Murray McGibbon. Within two and a half days of intense workshops, the group coalesced into a tight ensemble and the show was finally cast. Casting decisions, apart from the actors playing Prospero, Miranda, and Caliban. were not finalized until the director had had the opportunity of interacting with the entire company. Most of the actors were assigned other production responsibilities such as company manager, composer, set coordinator, or properties master. 
Nearly two months of rehearsals took place each day from 9:00 am until 4:30 pm with a short break for lunch. Scenes were discussed in detail, worked on, changed, refined, changed again, and in some cases completely discarded and re-worked from scratch. Each member of the company worked on set, props, sound, costume, and marketing aspects of the production. Live music and soundscapes were composed by two of the actors – Snethemba Makanya and Carmund White. The tightly knit community of actors forged friendships, some of which will have life-long remembrances and consequences!
After seven weeks of rehearsal, the show was ready to get the technical treatment from the Hexagon Theatre staff. There was intense media speculation about the project, and significant media interviews with Gurney and McGibbon piqued the interest of audiences throughout the province. Having broken so many conventions in the staging of The Tempest, the preview performance was awaited with a fair degree of trepidation by everyone working on the production. Finally, on July 31st at 7:30 pm the lights dimmed as the ritualistic opening of the play commenced. The audience was quiet and engaged. Two hours later, their rapturous applause left no one in any doubt that THE AFRICAN TEMPEST PROJECT had been an enormous success. Reviews in the national press confirmed this view with the production being lauded as “a provocative new reading,” “a masterful in-the-round staging,” and “thought-provoking theatre.”
“I was delighted with the finished artistic product and so proud of everything the cast and crew had achieved,” concludes McGibbon. “We had our highs and lows, certainly, but in the end, as a team we created a unique piece of theatrical art that could have graced any stage in the world.” IU graduate student Carmund White, who played Caliban, referred to the experience as “Breathtaking and life-changing. You cannot imagine how grateful I am for this unbelievable experience.”
Here's the IU cast
