Even though as a society we have developed greatly since shakespearian times, there are still similarities within the applicability of the themes and genres to audiences today in comparison to back then. With the Tempest we have been able to see the relevance of these themes in theatre.
Politics has always been something in which has had influence and effects on both audiences, so is a very relevant theme for the audiences. When the Tempest was written England was ran by Queen Elizabeth I, within her reign she allowed the parliament to have a contribution to her rulings, the parliament consisting of a group of men representing different areas. As a result Women and less academic and cultural men were not allowed to vote. Although Parliament had a say in things this was at all a start to democracy in any way, because if they tried to bring up a discussion they thought was important, challenging the Queens beliefs or creating conflict or debate then they were sent for imprisonment in the tower.
There is quite a substantial different between our politics and that of the Shakespearian era, the obvious being that the country is now ran by democracy, allowing numerous views and opinions allowing us to live our lives more freely and with discretion. The contrast of this being shown in the Tempest through the character Gonzala trying to convey her opinion and it always being mocked and frowned upon by Antonia and Bastiana.
Nowadays Politics has huge impact on everyones lives and is a major theme represented within nearly every medium throughout Britain whether it be theatre, dance, magazines or Tv. Therefore the involvement of this theme within the Tempest makes it very relevant to today because people like to be involved with Politics so something that emanates this will attract attention.
Another theme which links with both then and now would be Crime and Punishment. Back in 1596, plays and their public displays were very much disapproved of, so much so that London authorities could no longer overlook the situation, and therefore prohibited any more public displays of plays and theatre within the London City area. It proceeded to get worse as in 1648, all theatres and playhouses were enforced to be teared down by the Puritans, and taking even more drastic matters if anyone was found to be seeing a play they would have been fined and the players themselves be beaten and whipped. Even though we have a lot of drastic measures within the theatre industry, I don't think it is any where near that bad anymore.
Within these modern times people are definitely not fined for seeing a show or performance of any type, but obviously do have to pay for entry in the first place. IN a general sense people aren't fined to attend any events that I know of, people may get fined for disturbing peace in public events such as protests, if an extreme case. Some form of protests have been ones to change the authorities opinions on such public events even if they are harmless, something that can become to popular starts to make their job more difficult if it isn't the favoured choice.
Even tough we no longer get fined for theatre these days, that can still be complaints about theatre and what it displays. An example of this could be the play Springs Awakening by Frank Wedekind, which is about Teens identifying and exploring the pandemonium that is teenage sexuality. Many of its themes consist of homosexuality, rape, child abuse, puberty and suicide because of this it got banned numerous places and many complaints leading to it being censored. This was back in the early 1900's however has been adapted to a musical which has been a wide success, I think that these kind of themes still make people uncomfortable today but are spoken about much more often and accepted in one way or another.
A lot of the time people complain about things they can't handle or are afraid of, sometimes there correct but sometimes there not, with this play these are quite string controversial matters but they are real things that occur so, I think personally if you don't want to see it, then don't go, because some people want to be more informed with these situations and theatre may be the way in which they will understand the best even if it is in a fictional matter, it could be relatable to someone.
I don't think our portrayal of The Tempest would be considered controversial, some people who still live back in the old days may have problems with the fact that we have gender swapped a lot of the roles, as obviously back in the day men played all the parts and women weren't allowed to be a apart of theatre, as well as men being supposedly superior to women, so taking the lead away from a man and making it a women could be "degrading" to men, but in these times I would hope that people had outgrown those ways and let it be.
The last theme I am going to discuss is, Seating Arrangements. In shakespearian times when viewing a performance there was always order with who sat where based on social status and wealth. For example the more wealthier people would sit away from everyone else whether that be further back or higher so that they did not have to interact with the lower class people. These lower class people would sometimes be called Groundlings they would stand nearer the front of the stage and be quite rowdy not afraid to share their opinions on the show or actors whether this be through speech or throwing items such as fruit at the stage or actor in question, this made the atmosphere of plays quite lively and rambunctious. This is a complete contrast to theatre these days as usually the more expensive seats are the ones in the stalls being the furthest forward and lowest of all seats, as well as boxes which is similar but probably next as expensive depending on the show and theatre.
In these times, plays are very different to the its more likely this kind of behaviour would be seen at a music concert/festival in which the audience have more freedom, usually standing throughout and having access to alcohol easily and attract a younger audience. Having alcohol available was also a downfall of the behaviour back in the elizabethan times as it was all accessible, and left people not with their senses allowing pickpockets to roam and prostitutes were offering their services throughout the performance.
The only kind of interaction the audience has within contemporary theatre would be with performances like pantomimes or if a company do an immersive theatre piece such as Sleep No More by the company Punchdrunk, apart from these there aren't any obvious occasions in which involve audience interaction as a part of the performance, but audience interaction within contemporary theatre is more civilised and accepted than it was back in Elizabethan times. This is because in these contemporary times, audience members are asked to be quiet and considerate before performances start so that they don't interrupt the performance and ruin it for others watching as well as distracting the actors which can affect the performance which people have paid good money for. People who suffer from financial issues can be cut out from performances as tickets can be quite pricey however there are lots of companies and situations which allow those who are struggling with financial hardships to be included within these experiences.
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