Three weeks ago, the Upper School performed This Sceptered Isle, a production written and directed by Mr. Conway. The play follows the journey of an island-marooned prince, who had just become king after the death of his father in a shipwreck. The prince is accompanied by a spirit as he traverses the mysterious island, meets its inhabitants and king, and slowly comes to terms with the loss of his father and his position in the new world he finds himself in. T.J. Cannistraro ‘24 played the leading role with J.P. Fernandez del Castillo ‘25 playing the accompanying spirit . The rest of the cast was comprised of Julian Boutin ‘24 playing the king of the Isle and Jack Lehrman ‘24, Boston Ezedi ‘26, Stephen Agular ‘25, Thomas Folan ‘25 and Will Achtmeyer ‘26 acting in various supporting roles.
The year before the production, Mr. Conway had hoped to direct a play that would introduce students to the works of Shakespeare, but thought that a full Shakespeare play seemed impractical. Given that there was a shortage of short Shakespeare-inspired plays, Mr. Conway decided to write his own. Over the summer, he compiled scenes from various Shakespeare plays and developed an original piece. He said that “most of Shakespeare’s plays had to do with magical islands or forests,” and so, those aspects served as inspiration for the location of This Sceptered Isle. After that, he said, “the rest of the story sort of fell into place.”
The set, assembled by Mr. Capelli, and costuming, put together by Ms. Michelle, included some incredible visual components, including an all white background, contrasted with characters in both solid color (inhabitants of the Isle) and Elizabethan costumes (shipwrecked crew). Mr. Conway explained that the purpose of this was to “display the interplay between the ‘historical version’ of Shakespeare and modern, artistic versions that often include visual minimalism (solid color costumes).”
At 40 minutes long, This Sceptered Isle expertly explored themes of loss and acceptance while also incorporating some classic Shakespearean humor to lighten the mood. Combined with incredibly engaging visual components, the production provided an entertaining and heartfelt experience for viewers.
