While working on this production, I've come to appreciate The Tempest as both Shakespeare at his best, and also the best of Shakespeare. Here are treacherous villains, star-crossed lovers, drunken clowns, and magical spirits, and a bold heroine to outmatch all others in Shakespeare's corpus. What we don't find is a sword-wielding savior: there's no Henry Richmond, Prince Hal, Edgar, or Macduff coming to save the day. The real monster here isn't Caliban or Antonio, it's the pride, greed, and envy that live in us all.
The Tempest is about overcoming the vices within us, and learning to accept that they exist in others, and this makes it a profoundly important play for our time. We all have to live with people who have hurt us, sometimes hurt us profoundly; choosing otherwise means living alone or acting monstrously. For all that Prospero's magic has brought him, real happiness eludes him; only by surrendering his power and making peace with the human society that betrayed him may that be possible. That is, I believe, an important message for us all to consider when we hear our politicians call for a "national divorce" and "retribution."
If we can make our island into a community where we accept each other for who we are, and can agree that we can get along without needing to destroy each other, and to make allowance for even the worst of us to become better, that would be a brave new world indeed.
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"I and my fellows are ministers of fate!"
"O brave new world, that has such people in't!"