The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. The Tempest did not attract a significant amount of attention before the ban on the performance of plays in 1642, and only attained popularity after the Restoration, and then only in adapted versions. In the mid-19th century, theater productions began to reinstate the original Shakespearean text, and in the 20th century, critics and scholars undertook a significant re-appraisal of the play’s value, to the extent that it is now considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest works.Scholars also note that it is impossible to determine if the play was written before, after, or at the same time as The Winter’s Tale, the dating of which has been equally problematic. Edward Blount entered The Tempest into the Stationers’ Register on 8 November 1623. It was one of 16 Shakespearean plays that Blount registered on that date.There is no obvious single origin for the plot of The Tempest; it seems to have been created out of an amalgamation of sources.