The year 2020 marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower. Aboard that vessel on its historical landing in Plymouth, Massachusetts, was passenger Stephen Hopkins, whose own fascinating tale may have influenced William Shakespeare. A film tracing these connections, Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck, premiered on Rhode Island PBS at 8 p.m. on Friday, January 15, 2021.
In this 90-minute film, producer Andrew Giles Buckley and his production crew follow the story of Stephen Hopkins, the only passenger who had previously visited North America before traveling on the Mayflower. In fact, a decade earlier, in 1609, Hopkins had been aboard a Jamestown-bound ship called the Sea Venture, which wrecked on Bermuda.
Along with the other colonist castaways, Hopkins sailed to Jamestown on a newly constructed ship. In a fascinating intersection of history, Hopkins's attendance at the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe led him to escape from Jamestown and travel back to England with Pocahontas and her husband. It was this series of events that may be behind Shakespeare's final play, The Tempest.
A descendant of Stephen Hopkins, Buckley grew up hearing stories of the man who may have inspired The Tempest’s own drunken and boisterous Stephano. This personal connection leads to the great retracing of steps throughout Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck.
Shot on location in Plymouth (Massachusetts and England), and notable historic towns and villages in between, one such retracing of steps undertaken by thefilm crew is the 50-mile route from Plymouth Rock to the Massasoit Spring in present-day Warren, RI – on foot in two days. The trek by Hopkins and fellow Pilgrim Edward Winslow, led by the Native American, Squanto, was a mission of peace and diplomacy by the English colonists to Massasoit, the great sachem of the Pokanoket (now Wampanoag) tribes, visiting Massasoit’s home village of Sowams. Buckley is accompanied on the journey by Christian Wessling, a member of the Wampanoag tribe and Squanto's descendant.
Between Hopkins’s crisscrossing voyages across the Atlantic and close relationships with historical figures such as Pocahontas and Squanto, his personal history, apparent influence, and the man’s omnipresence at the founding of America are revealed.
In 2022, the Rhode Island PBS Education Services Department is working with curriculum creators to craft classroom resources based on the historical figures and references in the film. Coupled with film clips, these resources will be uploaded to Rhode Island PBS LearningMedia, accessible to teachers and students locally and nationwide. The resource package is expected to be completed by the fall of 2022, and is made possible in part through a grant in recognition of the Native Land Conservancy.
WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits over the air in high definition on digital 36.1; Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD in MA; DirecTV 36, Dish Network 36.
Additional source: http://www.hitandrunhistory.com/category/news
Educational resources for Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck are made possible in part through a grant
in recognition of the Native Land Conservancy, a Native-run organization protecting land and supporting cultural preservation wherever possible.
Updated July 18, 2022