A Thousand Voices

Abstract

Although Ariel, as described by William Shakespeare in The Tempest, is a spirit that exists sometimes within the bounds of and sometimes beyond materiality. Ariel's sounds and sweet airs, first sung by boy actors, were almost certainly performed by actresses after the Restoration, giving Ariel's voice new layers of gendered meaning. Singing Ariels possessed a different meaning outside the professional theater, as the social status of the performers was generally higher than that of the boy actor or actress who plied their trade for cash. Performance of Ariel's songs in the 1650s as an act of political rebellion against the restrictive regime of Oliver Cromwell. These Oxford-based singers of various classes and genders summoned together a spectral Ariel, a phantom Tempest. Ariel's voice was not just confined to the stage, but also rang out in homes, in taverns, and in universities.

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