The Tempest @ Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London
Sigourney Weaver has got a lot of critical stick for her delivery and speaking tone. Yet this is a production of wonder, imagination and indeed puts the magic back into The Tempest.
Using billowing draperies, a lot of fog, sheer rocky backdrops, deep contrasts of light and shadow, and a foreshore scattered with coal/rock, we’re on an island which is full of suspense and unease. Imagine a highly stylised staging incorporating elements of Benedict Cumberbatch’s stage set in Hamlet from the Barbican. Genuinely we don’t know what will happen next. We also see Prospero as ‘mother’, which may account for her warm, naturalistic tone. Prospero is a solemn presence throughout this production, whereas the other cast members are allowed a wider range of expression and emotions. However, we feel Prospero’s vulnerability later on when she realises, in shock, that her enemies are coming to attack her — at her daughter’s wedding. We don’t get the goddesses appearing. but we do get the moving departure of Arial (Mason Alexander Park) into freedom.
Whilst Weaver is no Sir Ian McKellen, I don’t think she deserves the bashing she’s getting. Her performance can be compared to Andrew Scott’s Hamlet delivery, where they dropped the iambic poetry and went for more naturalistic speaking, which felt jarring at points. Director’s choices may also be coming into play here too.
What we do get is a truly ethereal Arial, who ‘flies’, sings and enchants — an ever watching, listening presence and faithful spirit. When we learn of Caliban’s plan, we really want them to hurry up and tell Prospero with urgency. Miranda (Mara Huf) too is more prominent and less sappy than normal. She’s also unintentionally comic as a bit man mad, constantly wowed by all the new human forms she sees before her. Rather than being a cypher, we believe her attraction to the newly introduced ship-wrecked Prince is real. Caliban (Forbes Masson) is both comic and repellant, and the diversion characters of drunken Caliban and the drunken terrified crew are more amusing than usual. There is even some audience pantomime and interaction!
But the true magic is from the staging itself. We see the storm-tossed tempest. We are enchanted by Arial’s flying and singing, wafting under gauzy draping across the landscape. Caliban slithers horribly over the ‘coals’. There is also romance (and some peril) as Miranda and her princely swain skitter nimbly up and down sheer rocks. Like The Seagull, the other cast members mostly remain on stage, but removed at a distance — sitting on sheer rocky outcrops or in the misty back. When Alonso (Jude Akuwudike) is put to ‘sleep’ — it is a wonder. We believe Propsero can do anything! There’s also some terrific sparring and battle of the collars between Prospero and her villainous brother, the injustice is more heightened here, when he comes against mother and daughter.
Unexpectedly in such a stylised setting, the focus really is on the words. In removing the unexpected settings, I found myself really really engaging on the words. The only part that doesn’t work so effectively is when the whole cast circle Prospero at the end (as she is about to destroy her magical book and end the enchantments over everyone and the island). Due to the flat staging, everyone looks a bit clumped and cramped. However, this is a minor quibble for the sheer wonder and engagement of it all.
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