The Tempest

What is in a name? Well when that name is "The Tempest" one would anticipate a certain amount of turmoil. Jared Sakren's Director's Notes for the Southwest Shakespeare Company's January 12th performance acknowledges some of the dramatic potential presented by the text of Shakespeare's "last un-collaborated play". While dubbing this a "Romance" it is also recognized as a deeply personal play combining themes of love, retribution, and reconciliation into a form of "tragicomedy" enjoyed by pre-modern audiences. (SWSC) Given such a description one might expect the performance to dramatize the tension inherent in the very title of the play. Ripe with the possibility of conflict this performance did not deliver on the promise of a stormy tale rife with controversial social issues and societal implications to ages old problems. Instead we have an amusing Saturday night diversion.

The Company seems to have sacrificed dramatic tensions for comedic fodder in order to present their modern audience with a viewing experience pleasantly devoid of any obligation to examine our own complicitness with the current state of societal morality. While somewhat amusing, many opportunities for comedy and drama were missed and mixed up in this performance, most especially in the areas of props and staging, casting and character dynamics, and the confrontation of societal iniquities.

With such a Spartan set in props and staging, more attention is focused on the acting and the message of the play. Rather than using this to their advantage it appeared more as if the Company was suffering from some budgetary crises. The realism of the opening scene, assisted by the gauzy curtain obscuring the front hull of a ship, made the smoke and lighting appear more magical. While visually entertaining, the visual elements were unfortunately accompanied by such an obnoxious amount of noise that the boatswain's speech and Gonzalos' answering banter was entirely unintelligible. Initially the four extra Ariel Spirits were distracting and perplexing, however their functionality quickly became apparent. Since this production seemed to emphasize humor this could have been better achieved by utilizing some of the bloopers rather than ignoring them; such as the Ariels making the "waves" which then caught on the trapdoor emphasizing "Ferdinand's" clumsy ascent through, which then lowered too slowly and further added unintentional levity to the play. The minimal staging and props could also have been used to underscore the tension inherent in the facile manipulations of each character's action by Prospero; however that opportunity was also missed.

Casting choices and character dynamics can easily sway the tenor of any stage production. How a line is delivered is just as important as that it is accurate, and can change the emotions of a scene such as the delivery of "No tongue!" in Prospero's admonishment to the young lovers (4.1.1767). By highlighting the romantic comedy dynamic the sympathies with and for the characters has shifted. Jillian Taylor's portrayal of Miranda was VERY intense, some might even say whiny. Her presence was memorable because her performance hit you in the face like a fist. Jim Coates changed Gonzalo from a mocked bore into the comedic relief and sometimes the only actor to keep the momentum going in scenes in which he participated. Even Trinculo (Michael Bailey) stole his moment in the limelight with his fun interpretation of the interactions with Caliban. Top honors must go to Mallory Pettas who played Ariel so well that it seems this play was written for her rather than to tell Propsero's story. The separate story lines usually so skillfully interwoven as a testament to Prospero's puppet mastery, is not at all apparent in the performance. Harold Dixon as Prospero seemed to be an afterthought rather than the obvious maestro of the textual version, and was in fact quiet easily forgotten. Claiming a play "wherein disparate threads of the plot are woven together into a fabric that unifies as it reaches its conclusion", one must conclude Ariel was doing the weaving while Prospero took the credit. (SWSC)

The societal issues to choose from are extensive. Some obvious problems that could have been explored are Prospero's neglecting