Reviews 2001
Reviews 2001
✭✭✭✩✩
by William Shakespeare, directed by Michael Shamata
Canadian Stage, Amphitheatre in High Park, Toronto
July 10-August 26, 2001
“Prospero at Mid-Life”
After last year's incredibly poor production of "The Taming of the Shrew", this year's CanStage Dream in High Park, "The Tempest", comes as a welcome relief. While there are flaws, director Michael Shamata shows a far clearer understanding of the play than was evident in the last two productions at Stratford. And the best seats here are one-sixth the cost at Stratford.
Shamata's insight is that Prospero need not be the ancient man we see so often see on stage. His daughter Miranda is 15 years old, only three when she and he were exiled from Milan. Prospero says he has spent a third of his life on the enchanted island where he landed after his brother usurped the throne, which means he could be as young as 36. A vigorous middle-aged Prospero rids us of the usual all-knowing figure clad like Father Time, and gives us an angry, fallible man who has meditated on revenge for the 12 years of his exile. Through this simple stroke, Shamata links Prospero to Hamlet and highlights the difference between the two. Unlike mass carnage that ends the delayed revenge in "Hamlet", "The Tempest" ends in forgiveness and acknowledgement of sin.
The emphasis on Prospero's anger and thirst for vengeance clearly links the main plot with the parallel plot involving the stranded court party and the plan to kill Alonzo and with Stephano-Trinculo plot and Caliban's plan to kill Prospero. Unlike so many directors, Shamata does not make the Stephano-Trinculo scenes all drunken blather and nonsense. Rather he makes the Stephano a mean drunk who still thinks clearly enough to use others for his own ends, again reinforcing the parallel with Antonio, Alonso and Sebastian and, of course, Prospero himself. The main flaw in Shamata's direction is that in making Prospero so angry he seems to have denied him a sense of irony so that most of the humour in the scenes between Prospero and Miranda is lost.
A stronger Prospero might have overcome this difficulty. But John Jarvis does not seem able to present so complex a character. We get his anger and self-absorption all right, but lose many other qualities--a mixture of happiness and sadness at losing Miranda to Ferdinand or at giving Ariel freedom, a rueful perception of his own vanity when he breaks up the wedding masque. Jarvis's finest moment is when Prospero recognizes with some chagrin that the spirit Ariel has a more humane view of his captives than he does.
Recent National Theatre School graduate Manon St.-Jules is also weak as Miranda. She shows us her innocence and wonder at seeing such new sights as young men, but does not project the lively intelligence within that her chess game with Ferdinand suggests she has.
Flat performances in two such major roles might seem to doom the play, but it is buoyed up by the fine work by the rest of the cast. Principal among these is Oliver Dennis (Stephano), who makes the drunken butler one of the play's most interesting characters, a bully and a coward, brighter than those around him but too dim to see his own folly. Patrick Galligan (Trinculo) makes the jester's innocence the perfect foil for Stephano's meanness.
The roles of the court party are all well taken. Most Ferdinands seem like milquetoasts, but Todd Hofley gives him a nobility that carries him through Prospero's trials. Both Alex Poch-Goldin (Antonio) and David Jansen (Sebastian) are excellent as the two outright villains of the piece. Michael Spencer-Davis (Alonso) is convincingly guilt- and grief-stricken. Keith Knight (Gonzalo) doesn't really get much humour out of the role but his bookish manner makes clear the likeness between him and Prospero. In an unusual casting choice, Shamata has Adrian played by a boy, Grade Seven student Ross Ward. This works just fine, Ward acts well and it gives variety to the court party, but I don't see its underlying purpose.
In another unusual move Shamata has Ariel played by a mature woman, Tanja Jacobs. This makes Ariel not the mischievous Puck-like figure we are used to but rather more like a goddess of nature. Indeed, she is clad much like the other spirits we see. She moves stately on to do Prospero's bidding rather than flitting off. While, again, the humour of this character is lost, it makes the opposition of Ariel and Caliban not that of spirit and matter as it usually is but rather of nature and man. This makes Prospero's farewell to Ariel and acknowledgement of Caliban take on a new, clearer meaning. Brandon McGibbon is very effective as Caliban, who is here not a monster but clad like a dirt- and blood-begrimed native inhabitant of the island. Unlike in so many performances, this Caliban's words are always clear and McGibbon makes this being's longing for something beyond himself shine through his words. Gavin Hope, Crystal Martinez, Jennifer Rayner and Jennifer Warren, all fine singers, are the graceful spirits.
Shawn Kerwin's design with its shoji screens, pine tree and pool give Prospero's island a distinctly Japanese look, carried out in Prospero's ronin-style outfit and the Issey Mikaye-inspired garb of Ariel and the spirits. By contrast, she costumes the court in early 20th-century formal dress. All is well-lit by Bonnie Beecher. Speech and movement are carefully timed to Jamie George's impressive soundscape. Less successful, Don Horsburgh's music tends to sound like children's songs for synthesizer.
With all three plots pointedly paralleled, this is a very clear-sighted presentation of a play many find obscure. If only Shamata had retained the humour and irony possible in the Prospero-Miranda-Ariel scenes, this production would rate very high on my list of "Tempests". Even as it is, the general conception of the play will probably lead more people to understand it than others that focus mostly big laughs and special effects. With only a $12.00 suggested donation, you have everything to gain.
©Christopher Hoile
Photo: John Jarvis as Shakespeare. ©2013 Keith Barker.
2001-08-26
The Tempest