The Tempest

by William Shakespeare

seen at the Playhouse Theatre, Sydney Opera House on 9 September 2015

John Bell directs his last production for The Bell Shakespeare Company, which he founded in 1990. The cast is

Brian Lipson - Prospero

Eloise Winestock - Miranda

Damien Strouthos - Caliban and the Bosun

Felix Gentle - Ferdinand

Maeliosa Stafford - King Alonso

Robert Alexander - Gonzalo

Hazem Shammas - Antonio and Stephano

Arky Michael - Sebastian and Trinculo

Matthew Backer - Ariel

Set and costumes designed by Julie Lynch, lighting designed by Damien Cooper, and music composed by Alan John.

Some unusual decisions have been made for this production, most of which turned out to work extremely well. Perhaps the least satisfactory was the doubling of roles, which detracted from the impact of the final tableau. However, cast doubling is apparently part of the company style, and the performances were in all cases excellent.

Prospero was more gritty and emotional than usual, almost unstable at times. This reduced the emphasis on poetic grandeur and resigned world-weariness, but intriguingly showed a figure whose exercise of power and control was in fact rather wayward and even capricious. This rendered his petty treatment of Ferdinand plausible, and threw an interesting light on Prospero's attitude in the marriage scene.

Miranda too, echoing the emotional volatility of her father, was passionate and moody, so that her immediate attraction to Ferdinand was as much a teenage crush as a dreamy romance, while Ferdinand himself was eager and boyish in his devotion. This meant that Miranda had a stronger personality than usual, a welcome idea, and her amazement at the 'brave new world' was thus more excited than awestruck.

The comic sub-plot was at its best in the first half, with Caliban more articulate and less bestial than he is often portrayed, but no less deluded in his new allegiance to Stephano. The second long scene between them, with drunkenness and Ariel's deliberate misleading imitation of Trinculo, lacked real comic energy, though the final distraction of the two drunkards with Prospero's dressing up chest was hilarious.

The most interesting relationship was between Prospero and Ariel, in which the spirit's aspiration for freedom was constantly influencing his attitude. His servitude was symbolised by a bracelet on his wrist which often engaged his attention; when Prospero finally removed it Ariel was quite astonished. In the meantime, his interventions in the lives of the humans was brilliantly evoked by his matching their movements and gestures, so that it was not always clear whether he was imitating them or forcing them to move to his will. His bewilderment of Ferdinand both in leading him astray and in interfering with the task of stacking logs, was half a dance and half a tease, Ariel sang the various songs with a sweet tone and the subtle reproach of his humane attitude was movingly done.

The set was abstract, looking like crushed paper which billowed in the storm and moved mysteriously in line with Prospero's designs, while the string music was warm and lush, belonging more to a court than to an island, but this too was an appropriate feature of a stimulating and enjoyable production.