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The Tempest

 


When: 25th February 2023 (Matinee)

Where: RSC, Stratford-Upon-Avon

Writer: William Shakespeare

Director: Elizabeth Freestone


I’ve always wanted to see a production at the RSC, and just haven’t got a chance. Even during a trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon last year we didn’t manage to see a production, technically we could have but the production on at the time was a History and in all honesty the histories aren’t really my thing. Therefore when my friend started University nearby I knew it would be an excuse not only to see my friend, but also try and encourage her to enjoy Shakespeare.

The amount of travelling that I did that weekend has made much of the trip a blur, a mixture of trains and busses and generally hopping around the country. To get to the theatre we had to get a bus, easy enough, then a train, which we missed, so we had to try and get another bus instead. Which proved how little we knew about using public transport! Eventually finding a bus we then got stuck in traffic going into Stratford. We left at 10:30 in the morning thinking the journey would only take 1hr and half, giving us time to explore the town before heading to the theatre. We got to the Stratford 40mins before the show started. This all following an almost 4hr journey the day before.

When we got to the theatre, we had each had a bowl of porridge and that was it. I managed to get an overpriced coffee at the bar, which helped to wake me up a bit and prepare me for the next 2hrs 45mins of Shakespeare. We were just happy we had made it at that point and weren’t late.

I don’t want to say I didn’t enjoy this production but as you can hopefully tell from what I have told you, the surroundings of the experience were pretty hectic and so much of your reaction to a production can be down to how you are feeling on that day. This is what makes theatre exciting, but also what makes it so subjective. I’ve read rave reviews of this production, on the whole reviewers loved it, but for myself I can’t say the same. On this occasion I believe much of this is due to external factors rather than the production itself. Following the journey to get there I just wasn’t in the right head space to fully let myself be lost in the world being shown to me. Sitting in that theatre I found it really difficult to disconnect from the outside world.

Saying all this I’m going to try and share my thoughts of some of the things I did really enjoy about this production and thought they did really well.

For a start I thought the choice to make Prospero a woman created some really interesting shifts in character dynamics. Whilst it didn’t change anything about the storyline itself, I particularly felt the relationship between Prospero and Miranda was so much stronger. The caring and protective instincts presented by Alex Kingston’s Prospero felt much more purposeful, I found I could understand Prospero’s motivations much more clearly. Kingston’s performance was also brilliant, she perfectly managed to capture the controlling and strong character of Prospero whilst still appearing caring.

Heledd Gwynn’s Ariel was also brilliant, she held onto the playful and cheeky nature of the character whilst also exploring how trapped the character is.

I also really liked the set, the style of it was busy and interesting to look at. Although I would have preferred for the actors to have interacted with it more. They did sometimes climb up ladders and crawl up the backs of the wooden platforms hanging either side, but much of the set felt untouched or reused multiple times in the same way. Similarly the closing moment of the play showed Ariel flying up into the roof, this was a great moment but I would have like this to have been used more throughout. If Ariel could fly this whole time why were they always using ladders to climb onto things?

I know a big part of the production was focused on climate change. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of this, but the theme felt disconnected from the play, whilst it was largely incorporated into the set and costume the actual script didn’t really change. I found this a little weird but with it already being an established script how much could they really change, I can definitely see how this theme might engage with the story of The Tempest but perhaps they should have integrated it in a different way.

This has been a bit of a different review/post and I definitely struggled deciding what to write about this production.  

 


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