Because Shakespeare didn’t define a time, The Tempest gives a designer freedom to explore how its story, themes, and characters live throughout different eras. For this production, I chose to explore Tempest in the early 1960s, imagined in LA’s Magic Castle- like world. Like the island, no one can enter the Magic Castle without invitation, and guests experience unexplainable phenomenon. 

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Miranda and Prospero are set in the 1950s, early days of the Castle. Prospero’s silhouette comes from Orson Welles’ Magic Castle costume; his clothes are stained and colorful to recognize both his power and his imprisonment. Miranda’s clothes have similar stains and color in honor of her power, which takes the form of compassion, intelligence, self-reliance, and the ability to stand up for herself and others. Her silhouette comes from 1950s dresses, with freedom to move.

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Magic in that era (and today’s) was noticeably white, even though magic originated in places like Egypt, China, and India. This inspired the costumes for Ariel and Caliban, whose people were conquered by Prospero. Caliban is inspired by an advertisement for two white magicians, which depicted an Indian man in turban and vest. Ariel’s costume is more stylized for a magician’s assistant, but she also wears gold chains. All islanders have colors that are recognizable in the natural world.

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The royals have solid colors because their clothes are not soiled from work. The colors revolve around purple and silver, manmade colors associated with power. The silhouettes are popular upper-class silhouettes from the 1960s.