‘The Tempest’ Takes a Celtic Twist

Revenge, love, forgiveness, and . . . Celtic music? The first three are all themes of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” a timeless play that mixes comedy, tragedy, and music in a masterful story about the complexities of human nature.

But ETSU Professor of Acting and “The Tempest” Stage Director Bobby Funk wanted to add one more unique twist to the classic production. He found that inspiration in Celtic folklore.

“What I love in this script is its reliance on magic to further the plot. A huge fan of fantasy and science fiction, I wondered if there was a way to apply my fandom to this work of Shakespeare’s,” shared Funk.

“I came across a series of lectures on YouTube by Siân Powell of the Association for Cornish Heritage. Her lecture on Celtic folklore, which focused on Cornish Piskies, gave me the idea that this story could work as pure fantasy, incorporating ancient Celtic religion/mythology.”

In the original “The Tempest,” the magical main character, Prospero, is played by a man. However, Funk was inspired by Julie Taymor’s film version of the play, in which a woman plays the lead. 

In Funk’s reimagining of “The Tempest,” the powerful magician Prospera, the former Duchess of Vannes (located in ancient Aremorio), is shipwrecked for 12 years, waiting for the day to exact revenge on her usurping sister. Prospera's sister works with King Alonso of Veneti, leader of the most powerful tribe in Aremorio, to take Prospera's throne and abandon her and her child on the ocean. They are shipwrecked on the magical Isles of Scilly, home to various fae folk from Celtic mythology. Most important to this story are the Piskies, who are led by their Queen, Joan the Wad. With this staged shipwreck, the magical Celtic fantasy begins.

To bring this unique production to life, Funk reached out to various experts in the community to ensure cultural accuracy. He connected with Dr. Jane MacMorran, Director of Appalachian, Scottish, and Irish Studies at ETSU, to adapt the play to ancient Celtic references and traditional Celtic music, song, and dance. Local Celtic musician Will MacMorran adapted Celtic songs to fit the play's soundtrack, including some sung in Gaelic. Dr. Adam Dahmer, Professor of Scottish Gaelic in the Appalachian Studies program, helped make phonetic transcriptions of the Gaelic lyrics to allow the cast to pronounce the lyrics correctly.