Work and Technical Wizardry in The Tempest (2016)

This article deconstructs and reframes the dichotomy of human versus digital labor that was perpetuated in critical response to the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Tempest (2016). I demonstrate how human and technological labor have been publicly valued and credited in varying ways as separate entities, in comparison to the reality of the production process. The realities of human-digital labor in the production process are evaluated against the representations of labor throughout the performance, particularly against the analogue, monstrous representation of Caliban. As such, this article serves as a demonstration of alternative modes of digital theatrical analysis, as well as an argument for changing perceptions of digital and human labor within The Tempest and the nuanced understanding of labor within The Tempest that this method produces.