Shakespeare's late play is a mixture of elements - it's a comedy that sets itself up as a revenge tragedy, as a wronged man gathers his enemies around him, at the height of his powers, only to eventually forgive them. There's also a love story between true innocents, a farce as a drunken butler and a clown attempt to ferment rebellion themselves, and some planned murders that manage to be averted in the nick of time.It's about finding your way to forgiveness in the roughest and direst of circumstances, and it's a story of beauty and power.
In this version, it's also a chance for Kip Williams to show off his directing skills without the screens he's used for the last few shows he's done (Dorian Gray, Julius Caesar and Jeckyl and Hyde) - having the action take place on and around one giant rock in the centre of the stage - which is a grand location for Richard Roxburgh to make his entrance and most of his declarations, as he and the rest of the cast climb up and down it and moving around as the rock rotates - occaionally embelished by fire, smoke or drops of glitter from the sky. It's a place both desolate and beautiful, and, in this version of the text, it's a contentious ground where Prospero can work out his personal demons through treating everyone around him as, essentially, puppets to his will - while he undoubtedly has some affection for his daughter, the rest of the cast are there to be either ordreed around or tortured.
Roxburgh uses his abiltiies as a somewhat jaded ringmaster to other people's crazy as seen in things like "Rake" and his performance in "The Present" to be a strong centre, whether invoking the weather, ordering around the sprite Ariel (played surprisingly lightly and powerfully by Peter Carroll, looking very ripped in a set of leather pants emitting smoke and long white hair), or raging against his enemies. The production suffers slightly from attepts to resolve Shakespeare's 16th century sense of colonialism in dealing with the character of Caliban - it's aware that Caliban is clearly wronged and while his attempts to right the wrongs sees him fall into companionship with a pair of ne'er do-wells who will betray him as soon as possible, the conclusion with Prospero handing over his powers never quite lands as strong as it might - while Guy Simon gives him justified rage and hurt, the attempt to update his arc and to land on a resolution acceptable to 2022 remains a worthy attempt rather than an unabashed success.
Elsewhere, Mandy McElhinney provides nobility as Alonso, Megan Wilding rambles charmingly as Gonzalo, Jason Chong and Chantelle Jamieson are suitably dodgy as the plotters Alonso and Sebastian, Shiv Palekar and Claude Scott-Mitchell have a gentle adoring chemistry as the lovers Ferdinand and Miranda, and Aaron Tsindos and Susie Youssef are suitably chaotic as the two clowns of the piece.
This nver quite lives up to my memories of the 90s Belvoir production with Barry Otto as a distinctly cracked-in-the-head Prospero and a fresh-faced Cate Blanchett as a gobsmacked Miranda, but it provides strong spectacle and an intriguingly different reading of the play, making it well worth the watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment