The Tempest        WS  17,353 words       SOL  13,455 words             77%          58 pages
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The Tempest is short, so there was not a lot to cut. The quipping of Sebastian and Antonio in Act 2 had to be curtailed a bit. It is rare for Shakespeare's wits to be so unfunny. The same holds true for some of the drunken verbal antics of Stephano and Trinculo. The biggest cut is from Ceres, Iris, Juno, etc. Prospero’s Jacobean production number for the young lovers, is gone! 

The Tempest seems to be about magic as much as anything else. There is very little drama in this play. Prospero tells us what is going to happen and why, and then despite a few small bumps in the road, makes it happen. It isn't really a play, but a display. It is a bit of a selected- scenes of recent explorers, a goodbye to the stage, and a foreshadowing of the imminent daughter-father relationship in Stratford. Masques were the new theatrical fashion of James' court. The Tempest is a wonderful masque, if somewhat average Shakespearean play. The several astonishingly beautiful passages found in the play are of course left intact. Purchase
I saw Guielgud play Prospero 35 years ago in London, and he was magnificent!