Caliban by the Yellow Sands

Caliban by the Yellow Sands is a play by Percy MacKaye, published in 1916.

MacKaye devised this piece in celebration for the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

MacKaye's first technical opportunity to experiment in devising a dramatic structure of Caliban's requirements was in St. Louis in 1914. In this initial production, there were seven thousand citizens who actually took part in the Masque. Audience members would gather in public parks to witness the production, even if it mean they would have to pay! Over the five-day run, Caliban by the Yellow Sands was witnessed by half a million people (Kilmer 313). The following productions, although still influential and thriving, were much smaller in comparison.

After the St Louis production, MacKaye began to look to Central Park for an appropriate site to produce the community festival. The idea was to now have his Masque as the central popular piece in the festival, along with the hundreds of other Shakespearean celebrations. However, there were far too many people who opposed this idea of using Central Park and did not think that it was an appropriate setting for the production. This debate ended in the disapproval of the use of Central Park, which MacKaye was very disappointed about. He strongly believed that the ones who were against the idea were simply unaware of the impact and significance the initial production had on the citizens of St. Louis, and the potential affect it could have on the citizens of New York City. He finally received approval to produce the play in New York two years later, at the Lewisohn Stadium. The New York production had an audience of 20,000 a night, with 2,000-3,000 people actually performing. Although still high in number, MacKaye desired more of what had been produced in St. Louis and longed to grow the piece in New York just as rapidly. The total audience of 135,000 covered the costs of around $100,000. However attempts to turn the enthusiasm for the production by having an annual event came to nothing with the US entry into the First World War. The passion MacKaye had for expanding and growing the Masque rooted from his passion for mankind, which was the basis for the play as a whole as it resulted in the piece being titled a "Community Masque".

The play is loosely based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest, and centers on the character Caliban, the monster son of Sycorax, and his desire for knowledge. The passage taken from The Tempest, which is the inspiration for the masque, is when Prospero says,

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