Monday, March 16, 2009

Tempted by 'The Tempest'


'Jolly good show don't you think?' This was how an impressed member of the Stratford-Upon-Avon audience responded to an extravaganza of Shakespearean surrealism!?! A flurry of African colour, puppetry, dance, chalk painted spirits and banging drums! An audience favourite was the effect of body parts 'floating' in on long sticks that suddenly formed the ethreal witch Sycorax complete with Madonna-like breasts.
My first Tempest was an African one! A Royal Shakespeare Company commissioned Baxter Theatre Centre in Capetown one. I'm not sure if the British audience saw the oppression of Colonialism as deeply as the South African Director and performers. It was a beautiful marriage of modern politics and ancient playwriting - my favourite! I was reminded of my first live Shakespeare; seeing 'MacBeth' by Footsbarn in a tent in the Botanical gardens as a 16 yr old. My world just got bigger and bigger with every soliloquy! I loved the spirituality and exploration of the dream/spirit/unconscious world. I loved the rhyme and pattern and I loved that the language went first. Meaning following like the effects of a soak in the bath!
A solid cast with stand out performance coming in the form of the physical comedy and great timing of the Drunken sailors Stephano and Trinculo. Oh and the romantic hero Prince Ferdinand had the attention of the three hook-armed British ladies in front of me with his rippling muscles shipwrecked without a shirt! They giggled all the way back to the carpark.
It was a joy on all levels in the RSC temporary Theatre-in-the-round. A sign of things to come as the new Globe is moving to a giant T-I-T-R too. My 18.50 GBP cheap seat (there was a pillar in front) was in a great spot as I watched the acrobatic puppeteers and dancers preparing the launch onto the runway. Most spectacular was the spirit Ariel galloping past on stilts and lavish headgear.
I cried and laughed and celebrated Shakespeare! When can we do 'The Tempest' Year 9's?

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