Five actors are to take on over a dozen roles of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” in a bare-bones production style at the GUC Performance Center on Oct. 24 at 10 a.m. and Oct. 25 at 7 p.m.
The Actors From The London Stage is one of the oldest touring Shakespearean theater companies in the world. Twice a year, they bring professional actors to the United States’ universities to perform a Shakespearean play with only five actors, no director and minimal props.
The mission is to emphasize imagination and collaboration. Alongside the performances, the actors fully immerse themselves in the universities’ cultures. They engage with workshops, classes and other community aspects to make Shakespeare’s voice alive and accessible.
Michael Palmer is one of the AFTLS actors, and he carries a long span of Shakespearean plays in his resume. Palmer said the minimalistic interpretation of “The Tempest” aligns with the nature of the play itself.
Like the AFTLS’s production, “Shakespeare is playing around with verse structure [and] play structure in such a way I think I’ve never seen in any other of his plays,” Palmer said.
Palmer plays multiple characters within this production, including King Alonso, the bumbling drunk Stefano, a goddess in a purple toga and even a ship captain. This role-jumping aspect is a signature of the company, and it demands both versatility and trust from the actors.
According to him, without a director, the production comes together when they break the traditional theater rule of actors not directing each other.
“You have to break your own rule and go, ‘I think you need to do such and such,’” Palmer said. “[The actors] can say that to you, so you have to do your best to get rid of your ego, be collegiate and enjoy yourself.”
The AFTLS joined UNA’s restorative justice program to present “The Tempest” at the Limestone Correctional Facility on Thursday, Oct. 22.
“This is an immensely rare privilege: to go into people who are incarcerated, to go into their world and to give them perhaps a glimpse of the outside world through art,” Palmer said. “It’s amazing.”
While enjoying their stay in Florence, the actors were also able to experience UNA’s Marching Pride doing its magic during rehearsal. Palmer was walking when he heard the band’s performance, and he decided to follow it.
Band Director Dr. Lloyd Jones invited Palmer to watch the remainder of the rehearsal, which he said was “one of the most exciting things [he had] ever seen in [his] life.”
He praised the “beautiful dancers, and fantastic horn players and wonderful xylophone players,” also extending warm gratitude to Dr. Jones and his “lovely wife Amy.”
Ultimately, Palmer hopes audiences walk away not only entertained, but transformed. He wants them to get swept up in the strangeness and beauty of “The Tempest,” to invest in the characters and leave having experienced something they didn’t expect.
And for those watching, that’s exactly what to expect: Shakespeare made fresh, human, and alive through five actors, a few props, and the power of imagination.
