Far More Nuanced Than ‘Nude Shakespeare’: The Tempest Storms Into Prospect Park [NSFW]

The pastoral environment of Prospect Park is about to become host to an intriguing production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest by a theater company which brought audience members out in droves to Central Park last May during their inaugural performances of the play.

Next week, the company will perform their production at the Music Pagoda in Prospect Park between September 7-10. The free performances will begin each evening at 5:30pm (see full details below).

The all-female cast of Torn Out Theater‘s piece brought a tremendous amount of attention last Spring as the production is performed mostly in the nude.

Audience members, scholars, critics, and yes — journalists — could easily fall into the trap of focusing primarily on the nudity or viewing the approach simply as a “schtick” imposed upon Shakespeare’s text.

However, Alice Mottola and Pitr Strait — who co-founded the company and co-directed the Central Park production — worked diligently to deeply integrate this choice into Shakespeare’s original work.

“When Alice [Mottola] and I were working on the production last Spring, we spent a lot of time without the actors — just with a script,” Strait told Park Slope Stoop. “We went through the play line-by-line. We took the device [of nudity]  very seriously because we knew it was going to get a lot of attention. It made us work overtime to say,  ‘Ok, let’s make sure we are as bulletproof as possible to be legitimate on this’.”

The Tempest — which scholars believe to be Shakespeare’s final play (written in 1610-11) — is set on a remote island and begins with Prospero using his magic to create a massive storm which shipwrecks his brother Antonio and other royals from Milan, landing them on the island. Antonio previously usurped Prospero’s title of Duke of Milan, leaving him and his daughter Miranda stranded on the island for many years.

The company wants the ideas of body positivity and normalizing the nude female form to synchronize with the themes of identity and liberation inherent within the play.

“Nudity is treated as an embracing of nature on the island,” said Sarah Sutliff, who plays King Alonso of Naples. “The whole point of this is to make the audience forget that we’re nude.”

Sutliff echoed Strait when discussing the importance of the text in the rehearsal process. “We started at the table,” she said. “Pitr was very clear about making sure we were on the same page and making sure we were scanning Shakespeare’s verse effectively.”

“People are coming from a lot of different places on both Shakespeare training and philosophy,” said Strait, who has been a director working with Shakespeare, Greek plays, and other classical texts for over a decade.

This production is certainly not the first in American theatre history to use significant nudity. The 60s musical Hair was met with both fascination and controversy — so much so that the Supreme Court had to clear the way so the show was no longer “banned in Boston.”

We asked Sutliff if she felt comfortable during the previous performances in Central Park. “You’re so caught up in what you’re doing onstage and the other actors — you can’t really pay attention to everything happening in the audience,” she said.  Security guards were on site in case there were any issues with audience members. “We heard about a few incidents after the fact. In the moment, nothing felt amiss.”

For now, the company is focusing on the challenge of transitioning the play between the Central Park performance space and the Music Pagoda in Prospect Park.

“The audience is looking down on the actors performing,” said Sutliff. “It’s a different type of separation that will take place when you compare it to Central Park.”

“Prospect Park is a lot more wild, natural, and secluded than where we performed in May. [The actress playing] Ariel has worked so hard on all her physicality — body language changes that will take place,” said Strait. “The terrain is very different. We’re working on what staging we can keep and what we need to change.”

As far as the coverage and the response to the production, Strait concedes there are some who think the company is using nudity to get attention. But he is also thrilled that so many attended the first performances. He understands that in this city, so much artistic work goes unnoticed.

“We’re trying to perform one of the most beautiful plays in this language and what is to us a very important social message. And want people to pay attention to it,” says the director. “It breaks my heart to think about all the plays that people have done — including work I’ve done —  that no one paid attention to.”

“O brave new world, that has such people in’t!” says Miranda.

Attention should be paid to a brave company that’s taking risks with a tremendous amount of thoughtfulness.

The Theater Rundown: Torn Out Theater presents The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Where: The Music Pagoda in Prospect Park
When: September 7, 8, 9, and 10 at 5:30pm
Tickets: Free. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Additional Information : The actors perform this play mostly in the nude.