Theatre maker Tim Crouch likes to blur the line between performer and audience, and his production of The Tempest, currently running at the candle-lit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, is no exception. As the audience enters, four actors are already on stage occupied with various tasks — knitting, playing a board game, sweeping — and they remain there throughout the evening, even during the interval. Other characters arrive directly from the audience, at times stepping over patrons to reach the stage, or climbing up to the theatre’s tiered balconies.
Crouch’s production challenges theatre convention – characters answer ringing mobile phones mid-scene, complain about the production’s quality, or wander through the theatre bar during the interval, leaving audience members momentarily unsettled and unsure if the play has actually stopped. Throughout the production two female singers provide an undercurrent of shape-note-style harmonies, (eerily composed by Orlando Gough), occasionally joining the action. At times it becomes difficult to tell where William Shakespeare ends and Crouch begins — which is perhaps part of the point.
As Prospero, Crouch anchors the production with a quiet, steely presence. Yet the pacing of the evening can feel uneven: at times sharp and focused, at others slower and less assured. The ensemble work is similarly mixed. Amanda Hadingue’s Antonia carries an air of arch snobbery that suits the character’s conspiratorial scheming. Joshua Griffin is an appealing Ferdinand, whose labours for Prospero takes the form of working as one of the theatre’s ushers. Mercè Ribot (Trinculo) and Patricia Rodriguez (Stephano) clearly relish their roles as drunken plotters, though their scenes occasionally lose their farcical edge. Sophie Steer’s Miranda has a lively comic energy, though this sometimes comes at the expense of the character’s more lyrical qualities. Ariel is played by the middle-aged Naomi Wirthner — a surprising choice for the airy sprite, but one perhaps meant by Crouch to challenge our expectations. Faizal Abdullah’s Caliban is most compelling when he speaks forcefully in his native language, underscoring the sense that his island culture has been erased by colonising intruders.
The set and lighting are largely shaped by the historic theatre itself, whose candle-lit intimacy gives the production an otherworldly atmosphere. Towards the end of the show as Prospero relinquishes his power and releases those bound to him, the back wall of the stage suddenly glows with colourful LED lights and pieces of the set move and spin.
In the end, Crouch’s production feels more intriguing than fully satisfying. The marriage of Crouch’s theatrical unconventionality with the Elizabethan intimacy of the Globe indoor space is an experiment worth taking, even if the evening never quite settles into a steady rhythm. Still, there is enough invention here to hold the attention, even if the results feel uneven.
By: William Shakespeare
Director: Tim Crouch
Composer: Orlando Gough
Designer: Rachana Jadhav
Cast includes: Faizal Abdullah, Tim Crouch, Joshua Griffin, Amanda Hadingue, Mercè Ribot, Patricia Rodriguez, Sophie Steer, Naomi Wirthner
Until: 12 April
Photo credit: Marc Brenner