When I heard that Sam Mendes was returning to the English stage to direct The Tempest at The Old Vic, both my boyfriend and I were instantly champing at the bit. Me mostly because Mendes is a huge Hollywood name, and Harry because The Tempest is his favourite Shakespeare play.
Unfortunately Stephen Dillane's Prospero was relatively disappointing. His voice didn’t carry and he had the “hand-in-his-pockets” look of someone who would be better suited to addressing a sitting room rather than a theatre. I was expecting a bit more “sturm und drang” and instead Prospero seemed no more than a nice old man, which diluted the effect of his journey from betrayed castaway to magnanimous lord.
Miranda (Juliet Rylance) and Ferdinand (Edward Bennett) were suitably smitten as the lovers, although a touch too generic to be really convincing. However, Rylance does have a wonderful voice for the stage and she was one of the few cast members whose every line was crystal clear.
Ariel (Christian Camargo) and his antithesis Caliban (Ron Cephas Jones) were both appropriately otherworldly, although as with Prospero, there was a general want of feeling. Ariel, apart from one outburst at the opening, spends the rest of the play sulkily awaiting his freedom. Caliban, after a wonderfully terrifying entrance through a hole in the ground, moodily plots against his erstwhile lord, without demonstrating any truly monstrous anger.
Fortunately, the jewels of the piece were the two drunkards, Stephano (Thomas Sadoski) and Trinculo (Anthony O’Donnell), whose inebriated antics and slapstick comedy really brightened up the whole performance.
Set designer Tom Piper’s minimalist approach, with a stark backdrop and traditional circle in the middle of the stage worked well and was beautifully offset by Paul Pyant’s ethereal lighting.
So, to sum up, an enjoyable show, but a little too tame for my liking. Perfectly watchable but lacking in that intangible touch of magic.
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