The Tempest for autistic people
"Groundbreaking Shakespeare" The Guardian⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“For the first time I forgot myself and was just there” Autistic participant
“What is breathtaking about this show is the actors immediately adapt what they are doing to incorporate my autistic sons behaviour into the performance, in other words, they enter into his world, rather than demanding that he enter into theirs.”
Parent of autistic participant
Previous Performances
The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford upon Avon July 2014
The Wexner centre Columbus Ohio July 2014
Bloomsbury Theatre, Bloomsbury Festival, October 2015
The Help Centre, Los Angeles US, May 2016
Festival de Clasicos en Alcala de Henares, June 2016
Festival of Love, Southbank Centre, July 2016
Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond UK, October 2016
Teatre Lliure, Barcelona, March 2017
Adapted performances online with Teatro La Plaza 2021-2022
Riverside Studios, London April 2022-August 2023
The Old Market Theatre May 2022
Craiova International Shakespeare Festival Romania April 2023
Situational Centre for Ukraine. Sofia Bulgaria May 2022-April 2023
Teatro La Plaza, Lima Peru September 2023
Festival Tanar de Sibiu at Teatrul Gong, Sibiu Romania, November 2023
International Shakespeare Festival Riverside Studios 2024
Encuentro Otros Territorios. Querétaro Mexico 2024
Riverside Studios summer programme 2025
La Ciutat Invisible Girona Spain 2025
The Urban Theatre Project Kolkata India 2025
Full of Life Centre London 2026
Adapted and Directed by Kelly Hunter
Original Design Anthony Lamble
— La Tempesta, Barcelona (2017)
"I created this interactive show for autistic people in 2014 based on sensory games I had started to invent in 2003, so it was a long time coming. At the centre of the show is a game where Miranda teaches Caliban how to say his name and “how to name the bigger light and how the less that burn by day and night”. This scene isn’t in Shakespeare’s original play but is vividly spoken of by Miranda and Caliban within the scenes and is one of the first games I ever invented for autistic people, empowering them with the opportunity to be the “teacher”. I have continued to direct this production around the world in many different languages for the last twelve years, most notably at Teatro La Plaza, Lima Peru in 2023 and with The Urban Theatre Project, Kolkata India in 2025. With each new production, the show develops depending on the responses to the games of the autistic people taking part and the talents and creativity of the actors, especially in the realm of the music. In 2017, I directed the show in Catalá at Teatre Lliure, a life changing experience that gave me renewed confidence that these productions for marginalised audiences could be an ongoing endeavour. The Catalan actors literally opened up my own musicality and showed me “riches, ready to drop upon me”.
Kelly Hunter. Founder & Director
—the tempest india
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Funding for the arts is currently said to be at a ‘terminal decline’ but we will continue to create our life changing opportunities whatever the challenges. Please help us continue with a one off donation or a monthly subscription. Your donations go directly toward our performances with marginalised people and always will.