Jamie Whitby [UK]
An Isle Full of Noises | video, 2017
This short film from up-and-coming director Jamie Whitby re-imagines the mysterious scene of Caliban’s most famous monologue from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The piece is narrated by eminent British actor David Oyelowo, and on the screen we see Edward Kagutuzi, Michael Ajao and dance collective Sigh. The film owes its oneiric atmosphere to an unusual illumination of the night-time forest that acted as its ‘scenery’, obtained using a special drone lighting rig. Superb acting and a singular narrative lend a contemporary air to the classical text.
The scene shown in the film comes from the second act of Shakespeare’s play. Caliban tries to induce the men who were shipwrecked in the tempest to assassinate Prospero, the duke who usurped the right to rule the island. Prospero’s magic powers caused the tempest in the first place – he also used magic to liberate Ariel from a tree trunk, and now, on his command, the spirit stirs fears about the planned coup in the marooned men through the sounds he makes. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises… says Caliban to prevent the castaways (and himself) from losing heart. The island has its mysteries that seem to reverberate in the omnipresent noises of its secret life.
Since the first staging of the play in 1611, many directors have tried numerous approaches and technical solutions to obtain evocative sound and light effects that would convey the atmosphere of a mysterious, murky forest on a deserted island engulfed in a storm. Jamie Whitby’s short film is yet another attempt at reinterpreting and visualizing the classical text, and the film’s screening in the Oliwa forest intensifies the emotions built by Shakespeare in his work. We may also regard Oliwa as a separate island with its own magical life.
location: forest, access from Leśna Street
Jamie Whitby is a British director and photographer whose films rely on state-of-the-art technology. He is one half of the Jamie&Jamie duo responsible for commercials for the American GQ magazine or Italian mineral water Peroni. His films were discussed in prestigious film magazines, such as Little White Lies, Director’s Notes and Huck Magazine, and his award-winning short drama Bog Dog was co-financed by the British Film Institute. He is the author of Gengahr’s video Before Sunrise, which was shot in Morocco. An Isle Full of Noises, shown during this year’s NARRACJE, was part of Random Acts series produced by Channel 4 television.
