Happy New Year everyone! I know it’s the new year because I looked round and Nathan had stealthily removed the Christmas tree just in time for the twelfth night. And talking of the twelfth night, guess which Shakespeare play we saw yesterday? Yes, that’s right – “The Tempest”
This is the fourth tempestuous production that I’ve seen in the last couple of years and I’ve re-read my previous reviews in an attempt to not repeat myself. It may not be successful. If you want to do the same, here are the first two productions – The Globe in April 2023 and Unicorn Theatre in September 2023 .The missing third one was by Eva’s Shakespeare class and weirdly enough, I didn’t review that one publicly. She did make a very convincing Caliban tho, which I’m not sure is a good thing.
Nathan had taken the lead on booking this one, which is unusual for family outings. I assumed it was so that he could reprise his Weaver line joke – as these posters for the play sprang up at HP Station at the same time as the Overground rebrand:
And worry not, he did indeed reprise the joke but there was also an element of fanboying over Ms Sigourney. When I mentioned it to another male of a similar vintage, he nodded sagely and said “say no more”. I would say this makes us even for me booking David Tennant but I also have Ewan McGregor in the bag (not literally) for April so we are not quite even yet.
As with the Unicorn Theatre trip, we started with brunch at My Favourite Cafe on Essex Road. We had some time to kill, which meant trips to Cass Art and Waterstones at the Islington end and Forbidden Planet at the Covent Garden end. We also popped into FP’s new neighbour, Animetal, which had a nice Totoro window display.
I also spotted this seemingly pointless sign in the middle of an empty bit of pavement:
And the kind of little playground that would have delighted the kids ten years ago:
The Theatre Royal is certainly an impressive looking building. I think in our pre-kids lives we saw “The Producers” and “League of Gentlemen” there. Very shortly post-Reuben we also saw the 2009 revival of “Oliver!” there and wondered if it would still be running by the time he was old enough to play a workhouse boy. It was not and now it’s back again, he is sadly far too giant and deep-voiced.
The theatre has the most amazing, “Gone With the Wind”-type staircases:
It’s also got an engraving of Rodgers and Hammerstein, which every “Sound of Music” fan should stop and admire.
There were bars and toilets in every level, which is not to be taken for granted, and the toilets were much more spacious than some West End theatres. One thing though – it was incredibly hot inside the auditorium. Given that the weather outside was due-to-snow, I assume that they whacked the heating up to full to compensate but we were sweating and weirdly sleepy because of the warmth and the eerie music that was both loud and hypnotic.
Don’t worry tho, I didn’t actually fall asleep so I can tell you what happened in the play. It was tempting tho, especially as people in the play seem to be lying down and sleeping all the time.
So, elephant in the auditorium time – there have been some negative reviews of this production from the press previews. I went in prepared. It was considerably longer than the other productions I’ve seen recently – it was 2 hours 10, including an interval whereas the Globe one was 90 minutes and the Unicorn a mere 75. Both of those were, however, what YouTube calls “Made for Kids” whereas this was a show that full grown adults might like, especially ones who were had posters of Sigourney on their walls when they were geeky teens. I described both of those other shows using words like “physical”, “bright”, “bold” and “feisty”. This was the opposite in many words. But again, let’s remember that the other two were kids’ shows and this was not. It picked a more muted palette and a slower pace because Shakespeare doesn’t have to be fast-paced and zany.
Also, it seemed to be quite clearly aimed at fans of the “Alien” franchise, which is a smart commercial move. The island looked like the surface of the moon and the costumes had the kind of utilitarian feel that’s not a million miles away from the uniforms in those films. Ariel might sing of golden sands, but there wasn’t a lot of gold to be found on this stage.
Except for Ariel themself, who was a dazzlingly welcome touch of drama in a show that sometimes felt a bit flat. Descending from on high or singing in an otherworldy voice, Mason Alexander Park stole the show every time they appeared. Not that anyone else did anything wrong – don’t believe those early reviews! – but it was just change of pace. The eerie sound that was playing as we took our seats continued for much of the show, which did give it all a similar kind of feeling. There were some set changes, produced through lighting and billowing cloth, but largely it was the same landscape with Prospero on stage throughout. So occasional bursts of sprite-song really helped to shift the tone and keep us awake (it really was quite, quite warm in there).
In my amateurish opinion there was nothing wrong with the central performance of Prospero – none of the awkward silences and forgotten lines that the reviews warned of. She’s clearly settled into the role as she’s gone along. Gender-swapping the language made for some slightly clunky sounding sentences – especially when it came to Miranda’s speech where she says “I do not know one of my sex, no woman’s face remember – save, from my glass, mine own. Nor have I seen more that I may call men than you, good friend and my dear father.” Switching the father’s role into the mother’s at that point felt a little awkward and the overtones of sexism against Propsero in her banishment felt like it was shoehorning something into the text that detracted from the pure villany of those that ousted her. In contrast, gender-swapping the role of Gonzalo (Selina Cadell) makes perfect sense as of course it’s a woman who thinks about whether Prospero might need some books to read during her banishment. And Selina Cadell handles the text absolutely fluently, which makes the scenes between her and Alonso (Jude Akuwudike) skip by with a deftness that is lacking in other parts. Both actors have a good feel for the dynamics of the text, which perhaps gets missed in some of the longer Prospero speeches. Sigourney Weaver acts perfectly well but her Prospero doesn’t seem to have extremes of emotion, which I assume is a creative choice. Maybe I just find it harder to bond with Shakespeare when it’s in an American accent. She also had a kind of lisp, which again I assume was done on purpose, but was slightly strange. Not that the rest of the family noticed until I pointed it out in the interval so it can’t have been too obvious.
The cast was fairly lean – I think there were eleven of them in total which isn’t huge but almost twice the number that we saw at the Unicorn Theatre. That meant that some of the extra Lords didn’t appear, which is a common edit in this play, and the whole section with Juno, Ceres and Iris was cut. But there was one part per player, which made it all a lot easier to follow than when you’re watching a cast of six do it. The characters were also silently introduced during the opening scene, which would be helpful for anyone seeing this for the first time.
The comedy elements of “The Tempest” are always a highlight and this was no exception. I was impressed with Matthew Horne when we saw him in “Noises Off” and here he makes a very expressive Trinculo, teamed with Jason Barnett’s Stephano and Forbes Masson’s Caliban. Whenever the three of them are on stage, the show takes on a lighter and livelier feel – which is the nature of the comic relief, I suppose but it is much needed. Caliban’s outfit, as other reviewers have pointed out, verges on the gimpy and it takes a certain body confidence to pull off such a tight pair of pants. But his performance is great, as is Jason Barnett’s. The physical comedy is adept and their scenes are pacey and funny.
Mara Huf as Miranda and James Phoon as Ferdinand bounce around the landscape in their scenes, bringing a youthful vigour to the show. I didn’t recognise James Phoon as being from “Bridgerton” but it’s so obvious when I look at it now. We also spotted him at the stage door, giving a cheery wave to the assembled fans and thanking us for coming. The cast is rounded out with Oliver Ryan and Tim Steed as the scheming pair of Sebastian and Antonio and they exude evilness well as they consider adding a bit of regicide to their CV of treachery. So it’s a very solid cast, which I would cite if anyone accuses this production of relying on stunt casting alone.
But, and this is a big “but”, the pacing for some parts is way off. Maybe it’s just my famous lack of tolerance for anything slow moving but the denouement scene when all the players finally assemble was almost painfully slow. The monologues are drawn out and the actors walk in a slow circle around Prospero as if they too are waiting for the scene to end. It’s meant to be the emotional high point of the whole play as families are reunited and reconciled but it felt a bit flat. Having seen the plot done in around half the time might have just made me expect it to all be a bit faster and there is definitely value in lingering over some of the more poetic language…but there is a balance to be had.
I enjoyed it though and Nathan and the kids enjoyed it too. They’re better at slow moving things than I am.
On the way out, we lingered at the stage door for a while, which is where we spotted James Phoon, but sadly Sigourney was not planning to come out and say hello. It might be because it was a matinee and she had an evening performance to do but it was a bit of a disappointment, having had such a good stage door experience with DT. Ah well, let’s see how Tom Hiddleston and Ewan McGregor compare. Yes, we are fully bought into this stunt casting thing.
As we walked back towards Leicester Square, we also got a glimpse of the beautiful Royal Opera House from the back. Isn’t she pretty?
So, it’s very much a “make your own mind up” on this show. I can see why some were disappointed but I also think it’s probably improved since the previews. Apparently January tickets are going at a bargain rate so have a look at prices and more information here.
