Review: The Tempest

It may be due to the fact that it was the first Shakespeare play that I had seen off of a high school stage, but it had such a huge effect on me. When you read the play, you do not grasp the full meaning of everything. These books were meant to be seen, something blaringly obvious when you sit down and watch them. The biggest difference between books lines being read and being performed? Timing. The timing of each line changed the entire meaning. Also, the facial expressions of those acting made the scenes much more intriguing. I never want to only read a Shakespeare play again. I want to see them, too.

The Tempest was much funnier than I had taken it to be when I read the book. This I attribute to the amazing actors who were in the play and the director for having them act the way they did. Roger Allam’s Prospero was phenomenal. His voice seemed perfectly strong and forceful which was how I imagined the character’s voice. I liked that Prospero was a caring father who not only seemed to care for his daughter, but was kind enough to look after Caliban despite his dislike of him. Despite using Ariel as a slave, I felt there was affection there to an extent like what one has for their pet when it does something remarkable. The line of Prospero’s that made how clear the difference was between reading the play and watching it was Act 1, Sc. 2, when Ferdinand meets Miranda and Prospero. When reading line 576, “Hence! Hang not on my garments”, I had read it as a relatively monotone line. When in the play, it was hilarious because he was struggling to free himself from her grasp and delivered the line through gritted teeth to just her alone. It made much more sense and gave the entire scene humor. Whenever he called her “Wench”, it has a funny tinge to it as well since he very clearly enunciated the word.

I always thought that Trinculo and Stephano’s sections of the book were ridiculous and unnecessary.  All they did was drink! It seemed useless, until I saw them in the play. They were incredibly funny and watching them made me think that they really did have more of a part in the story than I had originally thought. Another actor who, though in the book seemed very minor, appeared much better on stage was Ferdinand. His part in the scheme is very small, basically only to marry Miranda, but the actor they chose made the part seem much more fun and necessary. There is not much, I believe, one can do with Ferdinand’s lines, so this actor’s acting was superb. His facial expressions and body language made his entire character. It was adorable just how love struck he was by making the faces he did.

Another huge strength for this rendition of The Tempest was the music. I had not expected so much music especially since there were only a few songs by Trinculo and Stephano in the book. I really liked their idea to add music though. It sounded great and you could really get into it. Having a dance number for the final bows was incredibly entertaining. There was so little that I disliked about this play because everything was really good in my opinion. I felt that the director did a great job for the majority of the play.

While the majority of the play was absolutely amazing, the one big flaw for me was the scene where Ariel comes in as a harpy. Up until the banquet appears, you are completely engrossed in the play and then suddenly there is fire and Ariel in a harpy outfit with the weirdest wings in existence. It was incredibly distracting, the costume he was wearing. The metal footgear and the people carrying his wings were just too much. I also do not think that the scene was practiced or choreographed well enough. The actors were falling before the wings even moved, which bothered me extremely as someone who wants to be a director. I would not have liked that at all. And the fire was the only special effect in the entire play which made it quite jarring to the audience. And as much as I like Colin Morgan as an actor, I felt Ariel’s lines were not strong enough for the scene. It felt like he was just reciting them. The monologue from Act 3, Sc. 3 when read seems very biting, accusatory, and can be downright frightening. I do not think it was strong enough.

Overall, I had one of the best experiences of my life that I will hopefully remember for the rest of my life. It was so overwhelming to be there at first, but I got sucked into it. The interpretation of the play was far higher than the expectations I had. I cannot wait to see the next play there.