Tag Archive: The Tempest


Rainbow Snippets, May 28, 2016 — “Deeper Than Did Ever Plummet Sound”

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May 28, 2016

Rainbow Food

Happy Memorial Day weekend, Snippetteers! — here’s a bit of Clarence to accompany you into summer! (I needed seven sentences this time, rather than the prescribed six — hopefully no one minds? *winks*) This scene is set at the first blocking rehearsal for the Perchance to Dream Theatre Company’s production of The Tempest. Clarence Limont is the production’s Prospero, a major (but slowly fading) star of the London stage who has taken on the role as a favor to the director, an old school chum; Jaymes Stafford is the production’s Ariel, a recent college graduate who has quite captivated Clarence. And Troy Miller is Caliban, an arsecrumb of the first water and the particular bane of Jaymes’ existence. I picture Clarence as a slightly younger Ian McKellen (he’s in his early sixties, but at the moment is feeling considerably older); Jaymes’ mother is of German and Scottish descent, and his father is Jamaican; I can picture him perfectly in my mind, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find a photo that does him justice. You’ll just have to imagine him for yourself — tall, lean, tawny, with an angular face and big dark eyes, and a cloud of tightly-kinked dark-blond hair. And quite shy, usually, in the presence of a Giant of the London Stage…

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By God, he felt a moment of genuine excitement, gesturing into the wings, Prospero bidding, coaxing Ariel forth for the first time in the play. And when Jaymes allowed himself to be teased out, as light-footed as a spirit in battered trainers, it seemed the excitement was mutual. Or at least contagious. Clarence was willing to settle for contagious.

A snicker came from the opposite wing, and Jaymes’ slight, sweet smile dissolved. Clarence didn’t need to turn to identify the culprit as Troy. The arsecrumb had been stepping on everyone’s lines, all through the reading process, and apparently was set to continue his winning ways, a dyspeptic God’s gift to the Bard’s canon.

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And, finally the usual couple of links:

Rainbow Snippets on Facebook — your destination for many more LGBTQIA+ goodies: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

And just for today (May 28) my Russian shapeshifter novella, WOLF, BECOMING, is on sale at Dreamspinner Press for 25 percent off, as part of their birthday sale (but even when it’s not on sale, it’s a heck of a deal!) http://ow.ly/F34d300GBFc

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Rainbow Snippets, May 14, 2016 — “Deeper Than Did Ever Plummet Sound”

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May 14, 2016

arielprospero

Good afternoon, Snippetteers! — I’m getting close enough to finishing UNDERTOW that if I give you a snippet of new material, I’m going to be giving away the twist in the HEA, so I thought I’d give you six sentences from “Deeper Than Did Ever Plummet Sound,” my story for the Summer’s Day #Shakespeare400 m/m romance anthology. In this snippet, the cast of “The Tempest” is hanging out in a local watering hole, Angels Nest, after their first blocking rehearsal. Clarence, the production’s Prospero, is nursing a gin and tonic and watching a fellow cast member, Denton Miller, who’s just cheated in a game of pool against Jaymes, the production’s Ariel.

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At first he’d thought he was simply reacting to the fellow in character; Prospero was an aristocrat, and Caliban was a vile, base creature who leered after Prospero’s virgin daughter and plotted to kill him. Not much there to like, surely.

It was possible, however, to play Caliban as, if not a sympathetic character, at least a complex one, filled with passion for the island he believed to have been stolen from him, moved by an impossible desire to be loved. Denton had obviously chosen otherwise for the character, making him almost cartoonish in his villainy. A lazy choice.

Even in the quiet twilight of his career, Clarence could not abide laziness.

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And a few links for you —

Rainbow Snippets on Facebook, for more tasty LGBTQIA+ goodness on a weekly basis: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

And MANTLED IN MIST, SoulShares #6 (to whet your appetite for number seven, UNDERTOW): http://ow.ly/Q8kO300ciDt

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Rainbow Snippets, February 6, 2016 — Deeper than Did Ever Plummet Sound

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February 6, 2016

FlagOne

Welcome, Snippetteers! — my offering this week is from “Deeper than Did Ever Plummet Sound,” my contribution to an m/m romance charity anthology being assembled to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. All the stories, needless to say, have a connection to Shakespeare, or his plays — some are retellings of the plays, some make use of the sonnets. Mine is about a contemporary New York production of The Tempest, possibly my favorite of Shakespeare’s plays, and about the production’s Prospero, Londoner Clarence Limont, one of the great twentieth-century interpreters of the Bard’s work. (Close your eyes and imagine Sir Ian McKellen reciting…)

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There had been a time when this had been a thrill, this first moment of discovery, looking into a new play for the first time, or into an old one with a new cast. He could remember when it had been exciting.

Maybe it’s time to end it now, while I can still remember.

He had had this same argument with himself more or less every morning for the last, oh, seven years. Ever since that disastrous production of the Scottish play in Manchester. He’d contemplated paying someone to stand outside the theatre and scream the name of the play, in hopes that lightning would strike or someone would decide to commit a little judicious arson.

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And a couple of links for you:

Rainbow Snippets (for more goodies): https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

And the pre-order link for Wolf, Becoming is now available on Amazon! http://ow.ly/Y1WDY

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