The Tempest

[1611] Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). The Tempest. It is generally agreed that it was first performed in much its current form in 1611, and it was first published in the First Folio Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, histories, & tragedies. Published according to the True Originall Copies. London: Ptd. Isaac Iaggard, and Ed. Blount, 1623. Items separately paged. A standard ed. is The Tempest. Ed. Virginia Mason Vaughan and Alden T. Vaughan in The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. Ed. Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson, and David Scott Kastan (London: Methuen Drama, 2011), 1071-95 with a brief editor’s note on 1071. A recent critical ed. is The Tempest. Fully Annotated, with an Introduction, by Burton Raffel (xv-xxix). The Annotated Shakespeare. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006, with “An Essay by Harold Bloom” (137-48). A critical edition that emphasizes performance history is The Tempest. Ed. David Lindley. Updated ed. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 

Includes a very brief description of the Golden Age. There have been numerous adaptations and versions. The best known is William Davenant and John Dryden. The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island. A Comedy. As it is now Acted at his Highness the Duke of York’s Theatre. London: Ptd. by J.M. for Henry Herringman, 1670 [Samuel Pepys records the first performance as November 7, 1667]. Another version by [John Dryden, William Davenant, and Thomas Shadwell]. The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island. A Comedy As it is now Acted at His Highness the Duke of York’s Theatre. London: Ptd. by T.N. for Henry Herringman, 1674. This version is in The Dramatic Works of William D’avenant With Prefatory Memoir and Notes (Edinburgh, Scot.: William Paterson/London: H. Sotheran, 1874), 395-521, 526. With “Preface” by Dryden dated December 1, 1669 (413-15)]; rpt. in Five Restoration Adaptations of Shakespeare. Ed. Christopher Spencer (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1965), 109-98 with notes 435-41. Other adaptations/versions include T[homas] Duffett. The Mock-Tempest: or The Enchanted Castle. Acted at the Theatre Royal. London: Ptd. for William Cademan, 1675; and [David Garrick]. The Tempest. An Opera. Taken from Shakespear. As it is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. The Songs from Shakespear, Dryden, &c. The Music composed by Mr. [J.C.] Smith. London: Ptd. for J. and R. Tonson, 1756. These items are rpt. in After The Tempest: The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island (1670); The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island (1674); The Mock-Tempest: or The Enchanted Castle (1675); The Tempest. An Opera (1756). Los Angeles, CA: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles, 1969. Separately paged photographic reprints. An opera based on it is Thomas Adès, The Tempest: An Opera in Three Acts Op.22 (2003-04). Libretto by Meredith Oakes after William Shakespeare. Vocal Score by the Composer. London: Faber Music, 2007.