The Tempest

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, November 27, 2016

My favourite Shakespeare play. Studied for A-level. I’ve seen it 3 times now and this is a stunning production.

First I love Simon Russell Beale. There is no other stage actor currently who offers his audience an understanding and mastery of the language and emotion of Shakespeare like him. From the first time I saw him in a Much Ado at the NT to his incredibly moving monologues as Prospero. He’s fabulous.

His Prospero is conflicted, angry, protector, architect. His relationships with his daughter, his slave and his sprite are beautifully portrayed. The conflict you feel as he uses magic to assure his daughter’s future, his obvious affection for Ariel who brings his revenge to life and the sadness he feels as he lets him go, and his abhorrence of Caliban who he nurtured but whose nature was too base.

Second Ariel. The character we all fall in love with. The character who can whip up a storm, send you to slumbers, create extraordinary beauty and who desperately wants to be free. This is the RSCS big play through their 2 year collaboration with Intel and Andy Serkis’s Immaginarium team. It’s magnificent. Ariel is in the air. Able to transform from sparkling sprite to harrowing harpy in the blink of an eye. It’s super clever and I loved it. Kudos here to the actor Mark Quartely whose control of movement was mesmerising.

I also, unlike some critics, didn’t feel this overwhelmed the rest of the play. I’d love to see how this relationship develops between theatre and technology.

Third Caliban. A wonderful portrayal of nature vs nurture and the innocence of the brute as he vows to follow a new master purely on the basis of his possession of wine.

The rest of the cast were stellar. The set was beautiful. I loved the many levels and the bowels of the old ship. I also loved that the audience was filled with all ages.

5/5 Magical. Mesmerising. Spectacular.