The Tempest

It is extremely gratifying to see that a Shakespeare play can fill the Drury Lane Theatre, and this is majorly down to the casting of Sigourney Weaver as Prospero in this very different take on The Tempest. Switching the gender of the protagonist throws up a lot of interesting opportunities to delve in a Matriarchal understanding of been banished to a desolate island, and the struggle to claim back what is rightfully theirs.

Jamie Lloyd and his company make the most of this opportunity with varying degrees of success. Stripping back the theatres to the walls and creating barren dark foreboding mounds gives the piece such an epic quality. When you add dramatic use of a silk drop, haze and the strident lighting from Jon Clark the storm and its aftermath it becomes an awe inspiring watch. With characters fading in and out of focus.

Where is starts to lose its impact is in the choice of giving the story an almost sci-fi take, with costumes that wouldn’t look out of place in Dr Who or Dune. The soundscape from Ben and Max Ringham adding to this same quality. I can understand why this might have been done, as a way of making the play more accessible, and to draw a different audience into the work of Shakespeare. Particularly one which is lesser known to the general public. But, it does jar with idea of hierarchy and magic that is so important in The Tempest.

The performances are all very strong with Mason Alexander Park’s Ariel the standout performance. In this production Ariel is given the controlling factor, like an ethereal puppet master moving the characters around which to stunning effect. However, this does mean that them and their amazing vocal and singing voice overpower the performance of Prospero. Ms Weaver has clarity of voice but the choice of making her much more the observer takes away much of the dramatic moments that Prospero has.

Another moment where this imbalance is most felt is in the scenes with Sephano (Jason Barnett), Trinculo (Mathew Horne) and Caliban (Forbes Masson). Here the humour is so broad, and surprisingly drawn out, that any idea of revenge gets totally lost.

This is a version that leaves you with more questions than answers and for those unaware of the story’s plot checking out the synopsis online. However, this is a piece of epic theatre where the staging and atmosphere it creates is worth seeing alone.