‘The Tempest’ Presented In Shakespeare Festival

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29893, 6 August 1962, Page 11

‘The Tempest’ Presented In Shakespeare Festival

The Shakespeare Festival in Chris.church continues to hold public interest, and the Repertory Theatre was full on Saturday evening for the opening performance of "The Tempest." Members of the Repertory Theatre Society have taken great pains with the production, and they have obviously received much help from other organisations. It was, however, as a show, a pageant, that this presentation impressed: and that this is a fair conclusion is indicated by the fact that the masque in Act IV offered no particular contras; with what went before and after. It was all of a piece with the rest, a matter of fantasy, for the most part. No doubt such an interpretation of "The Tempest" may. be defended. "It is. in fact, to be classed as dramatic spectacle rather than as drama proper, and he elaboration with which it has been put upon the stage by modern managers may be regarded as not, in this case, wholly out of keeping with the intention of the dramatist.” The production seen on Saturday night may have been envisaged according to this principle. At any rate it did not suggest that there is any deeper meaning in the Play. Perhaps the actors themselves are to be forgiven, if they failed to bring out anything of the sort. They had physical difficulties to contend with that were embarrassing. The worst was the rock that occunied a con. siderable part of the stage—a stone of stumbling, which, as the performance went on. tended to monopolise the attention. Most of the players had to climb over it. some of them many times: and how distracting they found it. and how awkward they sometimes appeared! The space available on the stage seemed more limited than usual, and the scene tended to apnear overcrowded very quickly. Did the enclosing background of rocks pleasing to the eye in Act I. but no*, so necessary after that, have something to do with it? One more point may be

mentioned. The first scene of "he play is one that is renowned for the impact it makes upon audiences. The contrast with what follows is "Iso cf great importance. “Here is exquisite judgment,” Coleridge wrote—“first ihe noise and confusion —then the silence of a deserted island —and Prospero and Miranda.” On Saturday evening, however, everything was thrown away —the reminiscence of “the pageant of carpenters' work" quite wasted—because the players selected for the leading part in the shipwreck scene' spoke and acted with a lack of animation which in the circumstances must be considered remarkable. The presentation requires a numerous cast, cf whom only the principals may be mentioned here. Heath Joyce, who produced “The Temp, est,” was a benign Prospero in a quiet-toned even performance. Jennifer Barrer spoke her lines attractively as M'randa: and Christopher Arnesen, who seemed to be startled, as no doubt he may well have been, by every situation in which he found himself, made an ingenuous Ferdinand. Janet Eales found the role of Ariel a demanding one. particularly towards the end of the play. The many difficulties of the part did not daunt her. and she is to be commended for her work. Eric Simmons made Antonio an interesting villain, and Selwyn Hamblett and George Taylor acted capably in smaller parts. The comic business was well done in this performance. Gregory Kane was made up to represent a Caliban of a somewhat Mongolian cast of features. Trinculo was certainly “reeling ripe," as played by Clarence B. Hall, and this actor’s efforts were seconded by Richard Harvest as Stephane. The nymphs and reapers in ‘he masque were graceful: but their dance would have been more effective if it had been shorter. —C.E S