The Tempest

It’s certainly a brave choice to take on a Play by Shakespeare and certainly something that not a lot of Amateur Societies do these days yet Richmond Amateur Dramatic Society certainly brewed up a Storm with their latest hit, The Tempest.

The complexity of the language, the technical challenges and the large cast requirements are just a number of reasons why many don’t perform plays by the most famous English Playwright yet Gregan Davis and Beki Stevenson treated this like a blank canvas and adapted it into a modern, fresh and truly genius world of mystery.

Director Beki had a great vision for how this play would unfold and with a great technical team behind her transformed the Georgian Theatre into the most perfect setting. The inclusion of a pre-show built up the tension of the piece with the storm causing havoc on the ship that would become shipwrecked on the mysterious island. The cast were fully immersive in this pre-show build up with a front gauze and clever projection work mixing with some well chosen music to set the tone for the performance.

Behind the gauze we had glimpses of Prospero working his magic on the storm, the clever lighting making him visual yet keeping the island a mystery.

The Georgian Theatre was the perfect stage for this performance and Beki and her crew enhanced the staging by creating an entrance from underneath the stage that rose through what is traditionally an orchestra pit. This entrance worked wonderfully in numerous roles as the hull of the troubled ship and later the caves/cell that housed the mysterious Caliban.

The Set really elevated the stage with huge credit to Bryn Turner and Stage Manager Alex Caffrey. The raised platforms at the rear of the deep stage gave depth to the scenes and the brilliantly decorated Cabin created another fabulous entrance for the cast. All of the scenery was detailed and perfect for the island scenes creating a stunning visual backdrop to compliment the cast’s performances.

Talking of detail, I must give huge praise to the fabulous Costume team led by Georgie Sale. After the production I had the privilege to be shown and talked through the story boards behind the character’s costumes and it is so impressive to see not only the wonderful end results but also the care and research that went into every piece. From Prospero’s beautifully detailed cape to Ariel’s small touches of blue within hair and makeup to add mystery to her flowing white costume, everything was thought through and perfected and it looked stunning. I am told that every character had a small “all seeing eye” stitched into it to bring the whole cast and costume collection together in mythical unity.

Whilst many societies (especially Dramatic Groups) are struggling for members, RADS is positively flourishing. This cast, packed with talent, had a brilliant balance of experience and youth. This didn’t just add believability to the characters but created a wonderful blend of energy levels, physicality and pace to the production. The great thing is that the Younger members of the cast have all been with the group for a while now and are all also now very established and accomplished performers themselves too.

Tempest calls for a large cast and everyone is heavily involved and not just bit parts in the production. Typically for Shakespeare there are many sub-plots within the story meaning many cast members stay in their little pockets in scenes.

Adding depth to the scenes and in minor yet incredibly important roles we had Debbie Bowman and Scott Fenney as fraught and frantic Mariners, Carole White trying to keep control as Master. These 3 teamed up with more of the cast in extra roles to create a real sense of panic and angst from the start with the ship caught into a storm and the inevitable sinking from Prospero’s conjured storm. Suzie Merritt did a great job in one of two key roles, leading the evacuation of the Ship as Boatswain, her energy and hysterical behaviour raising the energy levels.

Cast ashore yet integral to the story and plot were our hierarchy from Milan and the real targets of Prospero's plan. Gonzalo, played by James Sanderson gave great narration of the story throughout, full of great care and attention to the wordy monologues, his care and console over Alonso honest and true as he seeks to assure his friend of the possible survival of his son Ferdinand. Alan Paine as Alonso was full of despair and emotion, the complete opposite of Alonso’s control giving a passionate performance of the fatherly figure.

Under the control of the magic of Ariel we had Jennifer Roberts as Sebastian and Sarah Webber as Antonio, also cast ashore yet under the spell are tricked into an attempted assasination of their travelling partners Alonso and Gonzalo. 

Jennifer was the perfect partner to her master Antonio, her facial expressions and mannerisms greatly painting a picture of someone desperate to obey yet in complete confusion of everything developing around her. In great contrast we had the strict, commanding and almost brutal portrayal of Antonio by Sarah Webber. She kept the character straight through the whole play, delivering her lines with great power and force and really painted an excellent ugly picture of Prospero’s brother.

Surviving the shipwreck yet keen to have a more jovial time on the island we had the charismatic and let’s be honest, ridiculously drunk and over the top Trinculo and Stephano played by Aaron Harland and Gary Winn. Their scenes brought much needed comedy to the story with Jester Trinculo played with so much life and energy by Aaron being wonderfully led astray by Gary’s character Stephano. Their script was delivered with pace and great comic timing and Gary’s musical interludes helped develop the scenes. Great acting from both these two who managed to become drunken fools without letting it ever develop into slapstick.

Most of our magical characters on the island were wonderfully controlled by Prospero and all helped create intrigue and mystery to the story. Our Three Goddesses Ceres, Juno and Iris were beautifully played by Julie Winn, Carole White and Suzie Merritt. The three not only looked stunning in colourful flowing gowns and detailed individual masks and headdresses but they flowed in out of their scenes delivering their lines with calm and control. Julie added some beautiful vocals to some musical numbers in the scenes again adding to the height of mystery.

Under Prospero’s control and perhaps one of the most important characters in the story we had our spirit Ariel. Desperate to please her master and to gain her freedom, Eleanor Harland in this role was nothing short of sensational. Her movement across the stage flowed with meaning and grace, her stunning costume flowing behind her as she gave the impression of flying or floating in the scenes. Her relationship with Prospero was that of servitude and duty yet caring and sensitivity. It is the small detail when Eleanor performs that really impresses me, the small hand and finger movements, the concentration and attention when off script and observing scenes but also the character contrasts. Her humour and childlike amusement when creating havoc was so much fun to watch and brought another level to this character.

Dan Westgarth as Caliban was the polar opposite of Eleanor’s happy and warm character. Again under Prospero’s control yet this time as his slave and encaptured servant, Dan delivered a character full of anger and built up tension. An almost unhuman character with again an amazing costume to reflect this with leggings decorated as muscles and tendons and a wig made of seaweed and twigs. Dan’s performance matched the disgusting costume with a sneer and snarl as he creeped and slid his way around the stage like a trapped animal. His movement was deliciously vile and it wasn’t long before he would become led astray by Stephano and encouraged to join in the plot to overthrow him. We saw a glimpse of the character behind the beast with some comical scenes and his interaction with Gary and Aaron was fantastic. He came to life in these scenes whereas he was forced to squirm and recoil when confronted by his Master.

As with all good Shakespeare plays there is always a lovely love-story plot with his stories. In the Tempest we have our Noble Ferdinand washed up ashore and falling, very quickly, head over heels in love with the charming and beautiful Miranda, daughter of Prospero.

Ferdinand was played excellently by Archie Amery, his childish and almost wimpy style showing off naivety and careful immaturity to the role with great line delivery and wonderful stage presence. Possibly the soft nature to his character or the fact that Miranda, played by the brilliant Chloe Reid has only ever seen her father and Caliban before, but Miranda instantly becomes smitten by the young Prince and their relationship moves quicker than a sinking ship! 

Chloe had a lovely way with her interpretation of the character, her cheeky and comical early interactions with her dad really demonstrating the girl bored and lost on the island. Her character change when finally presented with a new fascination was a wonderful switch and you almost saw her grow up on stage with the building of the role. She looked graceful and beautifully dressed all in white swept across the stage, barefoot, with every movement and wide eyed glance treated with great care.

At the heart of the story and keeping great control of the whole piece was the magical and commanding Prospero played with spell-binding control and mastery by Mike Walker. An actor who seems to be able to turn his hand to any genre this was a huge challenge but one that Mike took on and absolutely perfected. From his stances and facial control off script and hidden behind a gauze whilst overseeing the ship wreck to his huge monologues that were full of detail and controlled pace this performance was captivating. His character had so many layers, from caring father to controlling master, from an angry sorcerer to an overthrown Duke full of anger and determined revenge he handled every side with style and control. It was fitting that the show would finish with a long speech by Mike’s character, with lines reflecting those of Shakepeare’s own feelings and thoughts he had the audience in the palm of his hand (as if still under one of his spells). To handle the tricky wording, complicated pacing of the language and still make it sound true and full of meaning is a great skill, one which Mike and the whole cast managed to pull off.

A huge well done to Beki for not only bringing this wonderful play to life but for allowing the cast to express themselves in their performances. The Bard’s plays may be wordy and technical but RADS also proved that they can still be relevant and with modern themes can truly entertain an audience. Combining a great vision with stunning visuals and breathtaking performances must surely inspire other societies to consider reigniting Shakespeare's huge collection. Whether or not they can pull them off with such professionalism and entertainment as RADS would be a huge task but I for one would love to see more if they are of this quality.

I look forward to seeing you all in November as another genre is tackled, A comical Murder Mystery, The Cavern. 

 

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