The Tempest
It boasts in Ralph Fiennes a Prospero full of the right tortured nobility.
The Tempest
It boasts in Ralph Fiennes a Prospero full of the right tortured nobility.
The Guardian
The Tempest
It boasts in Ralph Fiennes a Prospero full of the right tortured nobility.
Why see The Tempest?
FROM HARRY POTTER TO SHAKESPEARE, FIENNES SHINES
Highly accomplished Trevor Nunn, who has already directed over 30 of Shakespeare's plays, helms The Tempest, imbuing it with deliberate melancholy and romance. Widely regarded as the Bard's final play, this astonishing and poignant drama is an about forgiveness, revelation and reconciliation, and personal and political change.
Nunn's production stars acclaimed actor Ralph Fiennes as a striking, tortured and complex Prospero. With lighting by Paul Pyant and stage design by Stephen Brimson Lewis, The Tempest magically springs to life a triumph of virtue over vengeance.
WHAT IS THE TEMPEST ABOUT?
Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda live on a remote, enchanted island. Twelve years earlier, his brother Antonio, and Alonso, the King of Naples, conspired to usurp Prospero and set him adrift a boat which eventually ran aground the isle. Now Prospero, served by a spirit, Ariel, and witch-son, Caliban, plots to restore Miranda to her lawful position as Duchess, using the magic he has learned.
He conjures up a storm, wrecking the ship on which his brother and King Alonso travel, and they are washed ashore. With illusion, manipulations and the mischievous Ariel, Prospero endeavours to taunt them, reveal their true nature and demand that his throne is restored, as well as orchestrate the marriage of Miranda and Ferdinand, Alonso's son.
Key Information
Audience
Suitable for ages 12+
Dates
Finished 29 Oct 2011
Cast
Ralph Fiennes as Prospero
Nicholas Lyndhurst as Trinculo
Elisabeth Hopper as Miranda
Clive Wood as Stephano
Julian Wadham as Antonio
Giles Terera as Caliban
Tom Byam Shaw as Ariel
Chris Andrew Mellon as Sebastian
Nicholas Lyndhurst as Trinculo
Elisabeth Hopper as Miranda
Clive Wood as Stephano
Julian Wadham as Antonio
Giles Terera as Caliban
Tom Byam Shaw as Ariel
Chris Andrew Mellon as Sebastian
Creative
Director - Trevor Nunn
Author - William Shakespeare
Author - William Shakespeare
Reviews
Customer reviews
2 reviews, average rating: (3.8 Stars)
LP
Riding out the Storm
As the serpentine Lord Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes proved he can brandish a wand with malicious intent. Now, as he steps into the shoes of one of the literary grandfathers of nuanced magic, Shakespeare’s Prospero, it’s clear that Fiennes can summon up even greater powers.
Headlining Trevor Nunn’s strictly-limited run of The Tempest, he quietly commands the stage- delivering Prospero’s rich monologues with a brilliantly subtle conviction. It’s not an overstated performance, as the character of Prospero tends to be with all its emphasis on magic and vengeance, and I think it works well within Nunn’s somewhat anachronistic approach to the play’s staging. This is a production that relies less on a hi-tech bag of tricks to create illusion than on aerial pulleys upon which acrobatic cast members pivot and fly above the stage- an unusual throwback to an Elizabethan system of wires and winches that is refreshing in our technological age.
Yet although Nunn’s play is grounded in tradition, I felt the opening tempest itself was disappointingly unconvincing- as if the sound effect box was at its lowest volume. Given that this is the eponymous tempest, it was not nearly dramatic enough and, in my opinion, a hugely imbalanced spectacle. Quieter moments could have benefitted from a few better-timed violent thunderclaps, whilst the ones that did boom and crash served only to drown out some of the script’s key lines. The projection of moving waves, with the actors acrobatically spinning in tandem behind, seemed a bit flat- imaginative circus acts may be entertaining, but they do not whip up a credible storm. Later, the visionary dogs that hound Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban seemed almost laughable as cast members pounced onstage on all fours-another instance when a bit of CGI wouldn’t have gone amiss.
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paul Christopher
b+
If you like a muted Prospero then you will enjoy Ralph Fiennes. His performance might work on a movie screen but was a yawn in the Royal Haymarket.
At times, I wasn't sure if this was the Tempest or Caliban the musical
Ariel was played most cleverly by a trio of talent
On the whole this Tempest shouldn't be missed
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