Review of The Tempest starring Sigourney Weaver

The staging of the show shone as one of the most memorable aspects of the production. The choice for Weaver’s Prospero to remain sitting in one seat in the centre of the stage for much of the show was a fascinating and successful staging choice that showed her power on the island. Billowing sheets of silk worked to create a physical representation of spirit Ariel’s illusions and spells, which ensured that the audience was able to understand who is acting of their own volition and whose behaviour is being manipulated by Ariel, which was something quite helpful to allow one to keep up with the fast paced, and at times confusing, series of events. The landscape with dirt and rocks was well utilised in scenes throughout the play to add a layer of immersion, with Caliban slowly being covered in dirt from grovelling on the ground, and rocky crags being used as props to reflect distance and power dynamics between characters such as Ferdinand and Miranda.

The characterisation choices of the play were where weaknesses began to show, with some of the choices taking away from the excellence of the sound and staging. Weaver’s Prospero was a character with a lot of potential that was let down by the actress playing her, turning the main character into one that was the most forgettable. Weaver’s portrayal of Prospero was perhaps intended to be a subtle and calm exploration of the character, but this had the effect of making the character’s frequently changing moods confusing and hard to keep track of, adding another layer of confusion to the play on top of the complex Shakespearean language. One thing that the cast did really well was comedic timing, with one student saying that the “comical performance from the likes of Caliban, Stephano and Trinculo gave the play a broad range of character expressions”, with their hilarious misadventures acting as a breather from the more romantic scenes between Miranda and Ferdinand, or the more tense interactions between Ariel and Prospero.

In my opinion, Ariel was the standout character of the play, with their angelic singing voice adding a haunting aspect to their subjugation by Prospero, somewhat alike to a singing bird trapped in a cage. Their emotive performance in terms of the sheer power they delivered their acts of enchantment with, and their bargaining for freedom with Prospero acted to add a layer of complexity in the power dynamics and morality of the play’s characters, and my personal favourite moment of the play was the moment they descended from above suspended by wires while singing in an otherworldly tone. Another student was also awe-struck by Ariel, commenting that the “performance from Ariel was really impressive” in terms of both their acting and singing.

The characters of Gonzalo and his royal court were less impressive, with their scenes often dragging on and their performances overall feeling like fillers between the more interesting scenes that included Ariel, the drunken sailors and Caliban. Caliban was met with mixed reactions of discomfort and appreciation of his humour, with the interesting costume choice and grovelling attitude working to make him both hilarious and also disgusting. The characters of Miranda and Ferdinand added a lighter, more youthful feeling to the play in their scenes, but overall, they both felt rather flat, as they seemed to only be present to act as occasional comedic relief and to exist for each other as the romantic aspects of the play. The drunken sailors were also a fun part of the play, quickly becoming many of the students’ favourite parts of it due to their easy humour and their silly mishaps.

Lloyd’s production of ‘The Tempest’ was overall very mixed. Despite Prospero being the main character, the somewhat weak presentation by Weaver, which can perhaps be attributed to the fact that the play was her West End debut. The staging of the play was overall the most impressive part, which is disappointing for a Shakespearean performance. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend getting front seat tickets, but if you can it’s worth a visit and the storyline was fascinating, even for a first-time watcher of Shakespeare.

Review by Noemie, Year 12

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