The Tempest
Old Vic Theatre   Summer 2010

An article in the programme for The Tempest (in repertory with As You Like It, as part of The Bridge Project, a mix of British and American actors) outlines some of the moral, religious, philosophical and geopolitical interpretations Shakespeare's play has received, but one of the virtues of Sam Mendes' production is that it does not impose any external meaning or directorial concept on the play, but just tries to stay out of its way as much as possible.

The downside of this directorial discretion is a certain blandness, almost generating a wish for more in the way of interpretation, to give us a clearer vision of the play's meanings.

A nobleman stranded on an island with his young daughter has mastered magic and the island's resident spirits, and is now given the opportunity to exact vengeance on his enemies as they, too, land there. Will he, or will he have gained wisdom as well as power, and discovered the value of forgiveness and reintegration into the human community?

Director Mendes' stand-back attitude is symbolised in part by the almost bare stage, with the theatre's walls visible, and little more than the magic circle in the centre as scenery or props.

I've seen Prosperos driven by rage or egotism or a sense of justice, but Stephen Dillane makes him enervated and exhausted, as if his years in exile have worn him down and he must now drag out his last reserves of strength to work out his final scheme. The problem is that, while it makes sense in theory as a characterisation, in practice it give us little sense of the man to latch onto, little with which to decide whether we sympathise.

The same problem of the desire not to inject too much resulting in giving us too little affects Christian Camargo's performance as Ariel, as Camargo invests the sprite with a bemused boredom through much of the play, watching the humans with some of his cousin Puck's feeling of 'What fools these mortals be,'  though without Puck's accompanying enjoyment of the sight.

And I think that a fear of imposing too much nontextual meaning on Caliban results in Ron Cephas Jones being left with almost no character at all to play, when we really want some guidance in how to respond to him.

Juliet Rylance and Edward Bennett are attractive and believable as the young lovers, and while I grant that Shakespeare gives them little more than generic young lovers to play, it would be nice if they had added some individualising touches.

Well, you can see the main thrust of this review - the production doesn't get in Shakespeare's way, which is more than you can say of some, and particularly if you know the play or previous productions and can fill in some of the missing overtones, this is a quite adequate experience.

But it doesn't add anything to the play either, and that's its limitation.

Gerald Berkowitz

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Review - The Tempest - Old Vic 2010