I’m currently in the middle of essay writing, so this review of the RSC/Baxter Theatre Company Tempest is going to be a bullet pointy affair:
• This is certainly one of the most colourful and mesmerising Shakespearean productions I’ve ever seen. Janice Honeyman has assembled an outstanding ensemble of actors and created a visually stunning production of one of my favourite Shakespeare plays and although I’m normally allergic to the terms ‘colonial’ and ‘post-colonial,’ everything worked and fell into place beautifully. It’s very accessible to newcomers and fascinating to those of us who know the play by heart (as you practically have to do at A-level).
• It’s also fast, running through the talky Act 1 scene 2 at quite a speed, but it’s impeccably spoken. After Othello in which I kept wishing that Othello would just get on with it and suffocate Desdemona and kill himself, it was refreshing.
• The island is represented by a barren stage with a large tree (Illka Louw), indicating a harsh, inhositable environment. The masks, costumes and puppets (Janni Younge) are remarkable, bringing to life a whole new mythology. The giant Sycorax is particularly impressive and the masque was a stunning fusion of music, movement and colour.
• Antony Sher is a powerful, violent Prospero, in whom the powers of magic and colonialism are firmly connected. This isn’t a dreamy, wise old sage. He also manages to show just the right amount of fatherly tenderness towards Miranda (he’s quite scary when telling Ferdinand not to sleep with her before the wedding). It’s as if he gives up his violence with his magic, exiting the stage with his luggage and umbrella, leaving the staff behind.
• John Kani is an extraordinarily poignant Caliban (my favourite character in the play), full of repressed dignity.
• Atandtwa Kani is a tall, powerfully built Ariel, which might not have been my mental image of Prospero’s delicate little sprite, but he was terrific. It showed that Ariel’s fragility came from being suppressed by his colonizers, rather than his physicality.
• I enjoyed Tinarie Van Wyk Loots’s lively Miranda, dressed in what looked like ragged animal skins. Charlie Keegan did his best with the limited role of Ferdinand (insipid even for a Shakespearean male ingenue). The log-cutting scene (the staging of which reminded me somewhat of the kind of thing Andrew Davies would do to liven up a dull character) lent Ferdinand a touch of passion.
• The Epilogue broke my heart a little, with Prospero (*Spoiler*) addressing the last two lines to Caliban (‘As you from crimes would pardoned be,/Let your indulgence set me free’), asking him for forgiveness. Simple, but incredibly powerful.
(This review refers to a performance that took place on February 26th 2009)
