The Tempest by Shakespeare's Globe (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Tempestby Shakespeare's Globe Meg Cline The TempestPresented by Shakespeare's Globe, London. 908– 2210 2022. Directed by Sean Holmes. Designed by Paul Wills. Costume design by Jackie Orton. With Rachel Hannah Clarke (Ariel), Ralph Davis (Trinculo), George Fouracres (Stefano), Joanne Howarth (Francisco), Oliver Huband (Ferdinand), Nadi Kemp-Sayfi (Miranda), Ciarán O'Brien (Caliban), Ferdy Roberts (Prospero), and others. Continuing a successful summer of exemplary creative productions, Shakespeare's Globe presented The Tempestin modern dress under the direction of Sean Holmes. Filled with undeniable humor, Holmes and company's production was able to raise important issues of overconsumption and colonialism for the assembled crowds through a night of delightfully produced theatrical spectacle, a testament to the idea that a Jacobean play can resonate powerfully in the present. In keeping with a setting in an unspecified recent time period, most of the male characters wore basic suits. What the audience surely was not prepared for was the "suit" worn by Prospero: tiny yellow swim briefs. While the talented Ferdy Roberts presented Prospero as more an unhinged island dweller with a trash-bound grimoire than a malicious wizard, his costume made it difficult to concentrate on his acting at first (I found myself instead wondering about the integrity of the swimsuit as he ran and jumped about onstage.) The moment he removed his patchwork magician's robe to reveal the yellow briefs got a welcome laugh after the dramatic opening storm, though, and the costume choice proved to be only a "brief" distraction from Roberts's nuanced portrayal of the wizard. This initial shock which quickly gave way to indifference mirrored the production's attitudes toward the cheap and disposable items that modern consumers are drawn to buy: flashy and attention-grabbing products which quickly lose their desired effects and become commonplace, whether onstage or in modern society. Later in the production, Prospero's penchant for "fine" clothes was displayed during the memorable attempt by Caliban (Ciarán O'Brien), [End Page 273]Trinculo (Ralph Davis), and Stefano (George Fouracres) to break into Prospero's chambers. The trio had excellent chemistry and stole the show with their comedic mischief every time they took to the stage—including during their attempted "magicide" in act four. As the distracted Trinculo and Stefano rummaged through a chest of Prospero's garments, they pulled out their own "fine" robes to wear—a Gryffindor scarf, robes, glasses, and a Nimbus 2000 for Stefano, and a large brown overcoat and wiry fake beard for Trinculo. At the production I attended, the audience was left in stitches as the two raced to put on the attire as they quoted and enacted a few well-known Harry Potter moments. All the while, O'Brien's Caliban was left standing center stage, his deepening despair on full display as his plan to overthrow Prospero became increasingly doomed to failure. When Trinculo walked over and placed a large rubber Dobby mask over Caliban's head, the juxtaposition of the plastered rubber smile of the house elf with O'Brien's defeated body language evoked raucous laughter, to be sure, but also a few sympathetic moans. The implied comparison of Caliban to Dobby inevitably brought to mind the subjugation of both creatures, offering a critique of the blatant colonialism within The Tempestas well as the popular Harry Potter series. The ensemble work of Davis, O'Brien, and Fouracres was exemplary, but the entire cast worked well together (perhaps owing to the fact that they had opened the summer season in a cracking production of Much Ado About Nothing), sharing space, time, and action in a way that few companies achieve. Their genuine camaraderie and well-rehearsed but seemingly effortless blocking created an ambience of pure enjoyment and entertainment. This foundation of professionalism was key to the company's success as they worked to draw attention to some of the larger cultural critiques in the production. Perhaps the greatest achievement of this production of The Tempestwas the director's ability to juxtapose a four-hundred-year-old play with disposable and discarded props in order to raise questions about current issues regarding planet...