Sam Fleming (Miranda), Robbie Tyler (Ferdinand) and Dwight Ballard (Prospero). PICTURES / PAUL BROOKS
Paul and Marie Brooks attended The Tempest last month, and now, at last, space in the Midweek permits a personal look at the play, the place and the players.
A balmy night, a golden moon in a clear sky, trees backlit in silver, and Shakespeare in an outdoor setting.
It was
Friday, February 23 and the second performance of The Tempest on the grass at Bason Botanic Gardens. It was also director Karen Craig's second production in the gardens, Macbeth having been played there two years before.
Beginning in daylight, The Tempest would move along nicely into twilight and the cooler, damper evening.
We were a large, well-behaved audience (not like those of Shakespeare's time), relaxing on sand chairs and picnic rugs on the sloping ground overlooking the "stage" and well-constructed set. A roped off area replete with deckchairs was reserved for supporters of Jigsaw, the charity to benefit from the production.
Most of us came prepared with food and drink, although there was a coffee cart dispensing their top brew before the performance and at half time.
The Tempest
is set on an island, the home of Prospero (Dwight Ballard), his daughter Miranda (Sam Fleming), a sprite Ariel (Kathryn Fleming), Ariel's 2IC, Iris (a role created for this production and played by Maddi McKenzie), and a beast being half man and half fish, Caliban (Chris McKenzie). Prospero, being of a magical bent, arranges the shipwreck of his enemies and the islanders are consequently joined by the survivors, of whom there are many.
That's where the play starts — a storm and a shipwreck — depicted in abstract by dancers, representing the sea and the storm, carrying a model of a ship across in front of the audience until the ship's company appears on stage. The dancers were from Sharyn Underwood School of Dance and would reappear throughout the performance. The ship was a nice piece of craftwork and even sported sails tattered as if by a storm.
Karen Craig herself played the captain of the ship, a role normally taken by Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall, who was unavailable until later in the play.
Beautiful costumes and well-rehearsed lines introduced us to this later work of The Bard, as Alonso, King of Naples (Phil Portland) arrived with his company in tow. Phil was in fine form, as was Gonzalo, his adviser, played by Nadine Rayner. Veterans both, they led a small crew of players of varying ability. We must mention Antonio (Sandi Black) and Sebastian (Lauren Bradley), both parts changed to female for this production. They were superb, their double act being both funny and believable.
Without going through the play, line by line, let's mention a few salient players and points. Dwight Ballard played Prospero seemingly without the wizardly trappings — except for an appropriate piece of driftwood for a staff — keeping his face uncovered and his head bare. He had most of the lines and he had it nailed! Not once did we see him falter, his North American intonation clear, his every word understood. A major feat.
Sisters Sam and Kathryn Fleming had such diverse roles, each played with confidence. Ariel is invisible to most of the cast so can move at will, sometimes stealing a scene with her antics and facial expressions, while the well-cast Miranda is very much under the direction of her father until she and Alonso's son Ferdinand (Robbie Tyler) are brought together. They play love-struck innocents beautifully.
Chris McKenzie, Mel Hawkins and Phil Hudson [Caliban, Stephano (Alonso's servant) and Trinculo (Alonso's Fool)] appeared together on more than one memorable occasion, giving us plenty of laughs with their lines and slapstick capers. They've done this before!
A player new to my experience is Jessica Allan who played Francisco (in a lovely dress). She deserves to be given the stage more often.
Overall
The Tempest
was well presented by very capable actors, singers and dancers, with music played by Errol Christiansen, Sally Christiansen and Ingrid Culliford. Ingrid wrote the original music for the play.
The set was well designed and well-built and served its purpose well as an island setting and the traditional wings, dressing rooms and private place for the cast.
Importantly, we, the audience, found plenty to occupy our ears, eyes and imagination. Everything mechanical and electronic mostly behaved as planned although radio microphones are never completely failsafe, but the lines were mostly clear, unhurried and easily reached the audience. Obviously some players are better than others but no one disgraced themselves and the whole company — actors and backstage — can feel pretty proud that The Tempest was a job well done. I look forward to the next outdoor effort.