A Tempest, written in 1968, is Aimé Césaire's postcolonial adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. It follows the actions of the Shakespeare play, but makes the relation between Prospero and his fairy slaves, Ariel and Caliban, that of a white slave master to his non-white slaves. By looking at the story of Prospero and his minions through the lens of colonial theory and the racism and violence of colonial subjugation, Césaire explores an untapped dimension of the source text.
The play reimagines Shakespeare's plot by putting Ariel and Caliban at the center of the action and staging them as foils for one another. While Ariel, a bi-racial slave, has adopted a peaceful attitude towards their master, in hopes that this will win him favor, Caliban views this approach as that of an "Uncle Tom" and opts for violent resistance as his tactic. Césaire's version brings these different approaches to the fore, and the rest of the plot—Prospero's desire for revenge, the romance between Miranda and Ferdinand—becomes secondary.
A Tempest was initially performed at the Festival d'Hammamet in Tunisia. It was directed by acclaimed French director Jean-Marie Serreau, and was later performed in Avignon and Paris. It was not performed in America until 1991, when it was performed at the Ubu Repertory Theater in New York.
