The Tempest

The Tempest was a romantic comedy play by William Shakespeare. (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

Early thoughts
Shakespeare was inspired to write a shipwreck story out of a desire to "cash-in" on Strachey's Sea Venture, though he first made sure to check Thomas Middleton wasn't already doing something similar. In his working notes, before settling on The Tempest as the title for the play, Shakespeare considered many other candidates, including: The Shipwreck, All At Sea, The Storm, The Strong Wind, The Very Strong Wind, The Gust, The Extremely Strong Wind, The Squall, and The Very Strong Tempest. He also listed several items Blackfriars had which could be used, such as nets, lobster pots, and a sand dune backdrop previously used in Pericles and The Winter's Tale. However, he made a note to himself to make sure they did not use real fish on this occasion on account of it having a bad smell and being a waste of fish.

With regards to a plot, Shakespeare first envisioned the play as a "love story" featuring a boy and girl and feuding fathers who were Kings or Dukes of somewhere in Italy, possibly Milan or Naples. He also noted the requirement for some "clown business", considering a variety of professions which would work for someone at sea, and later writing that a double-act had potential. Shakespeare then outlined "political intrigue" as another important theme and devised a storyline in which one Duke (now definitely from Milan) had deposed the other and exiled the deposed Duke to an island which ended in the usurper being shipwrecked on the island and the deposed Duke murdering him. However, he scrapped this "revenge tragedy" upon reminding himself the brief was for a romantic comedy, revising the plot so that the boy and girl would get married and the deposed Duke would forgive the usurper rather than kill him, after which "everybody goes home". Shakespeare did recognise the plot hole of the usurper not killing the deposed Duke when he had the chance but resolved to think up a good reason at a later date.

As a twist, Shakespeare decided he could put the shipwreck at the beginning of the play and set the whole thing on the island. This was to demonstrate to Johnson that he could "do Aristotelian unities", with the action taking place in real-time. He briefly contemplated calling the play Two Hours in reference to this but firmly underlined a "No" next to this suggestion in his working notes. Shakespeare also wished to work in a chess scene to it being a "popular craze" which "always" got sponsorship. Possible ways for this scene to materialise included the Dukes playing chess, a chess-themed song and dance, and the boy and girl playing chess. Additonally, The Tempest would also serve to show off Blackfriars Theatre's new special effects, with Shakespeare jotting down off-stage sound effects and music, trap-doors and a surprise water cannon for inclusion.

Fleshing out the characters a little more, Shakespeare decided the Dukes could be brothers, adding in a family angle while also explaining their reluctance to kill each other. On the subject of the Dukes' wives, Shakespeare put down that they were either dead or at home in Naples. He also wrote that the usurper Duke would be helped by the King of Naples and at some point would attempt to kill his ally, only to be stopped by the deposed Duke in what the playwright himself described as "nice irony". Pondering the fate of the shipwrecked ship's crew, Shakespeare judged it to be a "bit grim" for a comedy if they all drowned, instead weighing up as alternatives either that they were just lost on the island or that the Duke and the King were the only ones swept overboard. He also considered the possibility of the shipwrecked ship being undamaged to allow everyone to go home at the end but deemed this a "bit implausible", highlighting in addition to this the already-quite-large coincidence that the usurper Duke ended up on the same island as the deposed Duke, though he also acknowledged that he "got away with it" in both The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night.

Meanwhile, having evidently ruled that the comedy double-act would indeed be a double-act, Shakespeare conceived they would get drunk on wine from the shipwreck. He also planned for them to appear in a "funny dressing-up scene", commenting that enormous trousers were "always hilarious". Around this time Shakespeare tried to give the two Dukes names. He settled on Prospero for the deposed Duke upon determining he needed a wealthy-sounding name but failed to have similar success for the usurper Duke. He went with Antonio, with the major caveat it would be a placeholder only due to Shakespeare having already used that name on four separate occasions.

Deeming the play to be "missing something", Shakespeare reviewed possible additions he could make. He first thought about pirates, then primitives who worshipped a giant squid. However, he concluded this was "impractical" and that he could do monkeys. After this, his mind moved on to cannibals, then cannibals who worshipped a monkey and finally to cannibals who worshipped a bear. Shakespeare left a note to himself alongside this last suggestion, warning himself to use a man in a bear suit rather than a real bear "after last time". (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

Involvement of the Tenth Doctor
Despite the development of his concepts up to this point, Shakespeare was dissatisfied because it felt like he was repeating himself. Acknowledging the chance he might be "getting too old for this game" and running out of ideas, he strongly considered getting "young Johnny Fletcher" in to co-write but steadfastly rejected the notion of collaborating with George Wilkins again. He went on to write in his notes that perhaps he should quit while he was ahead and retire to the country, describing The Tempest as "all a bit ordinary" and "going-through-the-motions", with definitely not enough material for five acts. This assessment was somehow met by agreement from an unidentified author, who had apparently tampered with Shakespeare's notes as he slept. (PROSE: The Tempest – A Work in Progress)

Later drafts
During the course of an unrelated adventure, a version of Shakespeare native to 1597 attempted to force the Fifth Doctor to take him back to Richard III's home time of 1485. While Shakespeare threatened the Doctor and his companions with what he believed to be a Sontaran grenade, a publisher's robot from the 64th century materialised in the TARDIS and told him that his second draft of The Tempest was 7103 years overdue for delivery. It chased him out of the TARDIS and into the raging Battle of Bosworth, where Shakespeare was mistaken for King Richard and killed, with the real Richard ultimately replacing Shakespeare in 1597 to preserve the course of history. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) In the 2010s, Adrian Davies acknowledged "the fascinating enigma of [the play]'s not-finishedness". (TV: The Caretaker)

Legacy
At Coal Hill School in the 2010s, The Tempest was studied by sixth form students as part of a Shakespeare module. At one point, Clara Oswald and Adrian Davies spent time specifically discussing The Tempest in light of changes which had been made to the module. (TV: The Caretaker)

Behind the scenes

 * The title of the audio story Full Fathom Five is a reference to the line "Full fathom five thy father lies" from The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2.
 * The title of the short story What's Past is Prologue is a quotation from The Tempest Act 2, Scene 1.