The Tempest, Stafford Castle - review
It was the perfect setting for a performance that was a glamorous as it was tempestuous - though the rain held off for this rendition of one of the Bard's final works.
Stafford Festival Shakespeare kicked off on Thursday night with The Tempest, set in the historic, haunting grounds of Stafford Castle.
Set on a luxury cruise ship on New Year's Eve 1936, the razzmatazz of the era was immediately apparent in the soulful singing, piano playing and tap dancing of the performers.
From speaking in every-day English, to the crash of the ship transforming the cast into Shakespearean-language speaking castaways, this was a magical production.
Gavin Swift as Ariel was the ideal, androgynous, sprightly and Puck-like Ariel.
Stephen Beckett, known for his five-year role in The Bill and playing Dr Ramsden in Corrie, seemed to channel Sir Kenneth Branagh in his performance of the authorative, manipulative and vengeful Prospero.
Miranda, played by Grace Carter, was a loveable, naive and sincere doting daughter, becoming more outspoken and mischievous as the play progressed.
The production tells the story of the exiled Prospero and Miranda on a desert island. The pair spend 12 long years there, with Prospero developing his own special powers. He, having rescued the spirit Ariel and captured the only other inhabitant Caliban as his slave, rules over the island as a dictator.
Indeed, set as it was in 1936, the production seemed to hint at Italy's rebuff after its invasion of Abyssinia, with arguably Prospero a Mussolini character in his own right.
The play, directed by Clare Prenton, did not shy away from difficult politics. Zephryn Taitte playing Caliban, dressed as an Ethiopian or Somalian tribesman could be seen as referencing the Second Italo-Ethiopian War - a colonial war that started in October 1935, after a battle on December 5 1934, and ended in May 1936.
In this way, the play was perhaps a lot deeper than first met the eye.
Maisey Bawden as Adriana could be seen as French singer Jospehine Baker on a Meditereann Cruise with her standout vocals whilst other entertainers also excelled.
The triumph of the show was the trio of Jonathan Charles as the permanently drunk, hapless yet musically-gifted butler Stephano. Combined with ventriloquist Trinculo, played by James Hornsby, who at one time became Ariel's dummy, and the calculating story teller of Caliban, left the audience in stitches.
The three seemed to feed of each other's mishaps, adding in delightful moments of interaction and always swinging from the endless bottle.
As the play continued and became more metaphysical and magical, so the colours brightened and performances became more abstract. The music was spectacular, with haunting violin solos, ukulele ditties and sweeping instrumentals delivering a rich background to this indulgent play.
Stafford's 27th Shakespeare production certainly did not disappoint then in its combination of the mysterious and the monstrous. Offering something to everyone, it was a fitting end to a week of unrelenting heat and an impressive interpretation of a classic tale. As Prospero says: "Our revels now are ended/These our actors/As I foretold you, were all spirits and/Are melted into air, into thin air."
The Tempest runs until July 8. To book tickets call the box office on 01785 619080.
