Prospero's lie (Shakespeare's Womyn series)

Shakespeare's Womyn is both a theatre company (under the auspices of Storymaker's Theatre)and a series of four short plays aimed at high school (Grade 10 and up), library, and festival audiences––the series was originally called "Women in Shakespeare." The plays have been performed at a variety of venues, including the Toronto Festival of Storytelling (1998-99), the Ottawa Fringe Festival (2000), and the Toronto Summerworks Festival (2001).The four plays–– On Lammas Eve (Romeo and Juliet ), To Aleppo Gone (Macbeth), The Letter (Hamlet), and Prospero's Lie (The Tempest)––are written by Mary Druce for performance with her partner Susan Kerr.Based on so-called marginal Shakespearean characters, the four plays focus on women and attempt to re-establish some sense of the gendered contexts for understanding their presence (or relative lack thereof) in Shakespeare's work.Prospero's Lie, anthologized by CASP here, focuses on Sycorax, Caliban's mother, who through Prospero's deceit has lost her magic and has been split into two beings (Sycora and Arax). The play details Sycorax's attempt to deal with the legacy of Prospero's deceit and her struggle to become whole again as she regains claim to her island.