4 STARS, July 17-22. An enjoyable Tempest in a beautiful setting – just remember your umbrella!
Ariel as a harpy (Francesca Ellis)
The Tempest seems to invite an outdoor staging. It’s a wild, windswept work in which the elements are a source of potent magic. Earth, air, fire and water are bent to the will of a sorcerer, gnarled trees become prisons for sprites, and an old man whips the oceans into a foaming storm. Prospero’s ‘enchanted isle’ is a liminal space in which the familiar laws of society are suspended. It’s also a world that bubbles with discontent, as natives and spirits are imprisoned in order to bring about the play’s conclusion, righting an ancient wrong.
With this in mind, it’s easy to understand why The Richmond Shakespeare Company chose to perform their Tempest at the heart of the beautiful York House gardens. The lush green lawns and mossy statuary provide the necessary sense of verdant magic. The ‘Naked Ladies’ sculpture evokes a classical past – a fit backdrop for a play that contains a visit from Juno herself.
The problem is, of course, that our weather is notoriously unreliable. On the day I saw the performance, the July weather was appropriately tempestuous, featuring both rattling winds and sudden showers. The audience took this in their stride, however - sheltering their picnics beneath umbrellas, wrapping themselves in blankets, and enjoying the sight of an authentically windswept cast. If you plan on attending a performance, I would recommend bringing a rug or chair, a hearty picnic and multiple umbrellas!
For the most part, this was a very traditional Tempest, with simple, fairly minimalist staging. There was a good deal of cheeky engagement with the audience – the drunken Stephano threw water from his flask over the front row, and at one point Trinculo came to sit amongst the crowd and proceeded to discuss the virtues of local ales with a nearby audience member.
1 of 10
Ariels – Neelaksh Sadhoo, Heloise Plumley, Francesca Ellis
2 of 10
Miranda and Ferdinand (Louise Stenson and Matthew Tyrrell)
3 of 10
Caliban (Scott Tilley)
4 of 10
Prospero (Francis Abbott)
5 of 10
Ariel (Neelaksh Sadhoo)
6 of 10
Prospero (Francis Abbott)
7 of 10
Prospero and Miranda (Francis Abbott and Louise Stenson)
8 of 10
Prospero and Miranda (Francis Abbott and Louise Stenson)
9 of 10
Stephano and Trinculo (Craig Cameron Fisher and Robert Waiting)
10 of 10
Ferdinand and Miranda (Matthew Tyrrell and Louise Stenson)
The biggest surprise was the decision to have Ariel performed by three people, representing water, air and fire respectively. This triad of Ariels dressed in brightly coloured body suits and cavorted in carefully choreographed synchronisation, weaving across the stage to manipulate the shipwrecked courtiers. One of the major strengths of this interpretation was that it allowed Ariel’s songs to be sung in harmony by three voices. The Tempest is a play that is absolutely saturated with music – gentle song haunts, tempts and confounds the islanders by turn. If anything, I felt that this production could have done with even more!
If the Ariels represented air, water and fire, the earthy Caliban completed the quartet of elements on the island. He was dressed in a muscle-bound, tattooed body suit and a leopard print skirt, and performed a ferocious Hakka style chant that provided a strong contrast to Ariel’s unworldly songs. When Caliban went on to speak some of the most beautiful poetry in the play, the effect was appropriately surprising.
The costumes were, for the most part, excellent (it was actually the first time in years that I’d seen Shakespeare performed in Elizabethan dress). There was a high contrast between the tattered splendour of Prospero and Miranda’s clothes, and the smart ruffs and robes of the stranded courtiers. At the end of the play, Prospero makes his peace with his brother and abandons his mystical power in order to die on his own land. The Ariels change his clothes, replacing his loose, flowing shirt and embossed belt with a plain grey doublet. It’s an apt farewell to an enchanted realm, a reminder that the conventions of society and home will win out against the most glittering and glorious magic.
Wending your way home after an evening of fun, you might just feel the same!
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