SHAKESPEARE'S THE TEMPEST AT DOWNING COLLEGE
The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival have begun their 39th season with characteristic confidence. .Little wonder, David Crilly’s artistic direction deserves the international acclaim this annual event has provoked. From all over the world keen followers begin their plans early. Yet the Festival claims to be a local event - and it is. Ticketing is organised but flexible, the dramatic quality top notch, yet the scene set is minimal. In the often mysterious shadows of ancient College gardens the plays enjoy an atmosphere almost any indoor theatre would struggle to achieve.
So true of The Tempest. The audience finds itself in the centre of a darkening garden, pines crowd out the buildings beyond. Soon we are spectators, witnesses to a horrific catastrophe in the sea . The boatswain shouts commands and orders to the useless aristocrats aboard to go below - and pray. He gets defiant backchat from the entitled Dukes but such is the terror aboard the boat, all ideas of deference vanish. The crew face certain death, the vessel weakens “We split, we split” they cry and we, the observers ,watch them perish. Or so it seems. For like everything in this mystical milieu, the is an illusion. From the shore Prospero, played by a suave confident Robert Brydges,, is in charge of the elements through his spirit servant Ariel, given consistent credible life by a beautifully balanced Flora Blissett, a form so light she hovers over the lovely lawn. How she sustains her servile vitality for hours is a minor miracle in itself. Freed from captivity by Prospero she is ready to seize the change ahead to win her independence. The rescued royalty from the wreck she places in a series of scenarios, where they stay for the play mesmerised by Prospero’s spells.
Antonio ,a convincing young blade played by Ross Stephenson, and his friend Sebastian, Ed Saunders-Lee combine to make the most of the shuffle in the power structure, and once their confidence returns, plan to murder the Queen, a role brilliantly rendered by Tessa Hatts, and Gonzalo, a faithful friend of Prospero. Karl Noble makes a great convincing job out of the affable Gonzalo. He combines a direct Irish honesty with a gorgeous stage voice. In a quasi-comic sequence the young noblemen draw their swords for the deadly deed but mistime or more likely re-think their chance .
We meet Caliban sooner rather than later. Joel Cass Nelson is superb in the role of a native of the island . He is described by Shakespeare as a monster but we soon get to see what a complicated man he really is. Weary of drudgery in serving Prospero (the usurped King of Naples in fact) he groans with bitterness, yet has some of the most poetic and heartfelt speeches in the entire play. He represents surely, the native people soon crushed by colonial powers - Caliban tells us tenderly of his eagerness to help the newcomers - with bitter reget that he ever was so generous. A difficult role to pull off, Joel Cass Nelson manages to survive the comic capers (never very funny in my view) to emerge as a real person.
Meanwhile Ferdinand the Prince and heir is discovered by Propsero’s daughter Miranda, someone who has never seen a man other than Caliban and her father and falls charmingly in love with him Mia Luft looks heavenly in her part and she captures the spirit of Miranda and exploits the comedy in the encounters with real people “ Oh Brave New World that has such people in it” emerges as a super delightful discovery .
Trinculo and Stephane, the two unhappily placed comedy parts are rendered as well as they can be by Heléna Collins O’Connor and Alice Kellar (who also make a terrific job as the Boatswain). That their scenes are over-long and the scene where Trinculo mistakes Caliban under a tarpaulin with Stephano , for a monster is wearily attenuated. But they give it some real energy and the humour does just about win through. Their hilarious interaction with a bemused audience - they were Australians - “Ooh Prosecco!” as they swig a picnicker’s grog, makes for a happy break in the action, well organised by these two versatile players.
Director David Rowan sends us out in the hubbub of Regent Street, dazed by magic. The spell is broken in the end by forgiveness and generosity - yet the dazzling performance follows these onlookers home, still a little bewildered at what we have witnessed. What an acheivement.
