When the King Alonso of Naples and his entourage sail home for Italy after attending the princess Claribel’s wedding in Tunis, Africa, they encounter a violent tempest. After jumping overboard, everyone washes ashore on a strange island inhabited by the magician Prospero, who deliberately conjured the storm. Who is this Prospero and why does he produce the tempest? What is the power that he has over the spirits inhabiting the island, especially concerning the half human, half savage Caliban?

A delightful romantic drama with undertones of betrayal and retribution, domination and subjugation, The Tempest remains to this day one of the more popular plays written by Shakespeare. The themes of freedom, friendship, repentance and forgiveness are beautifully interwoven, and by the end of the play, the tempest–both real and figurative–has calmed the most vengeful of avengers and washed away the sins of the most evil of wrongdoers.