Unicorn theatre’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s
A sweet, endearing, imaginative, family-friendly, light-hearted, colourful, comedy.
Stranded on an island with his daughter, Miranda (Daisy Prosper), Prospero (Mark Theodore) instructs his spirit Ariel (Juliet Agnes) to conjure a storm as an act of revenge on the passengers of a nearby ship.
This version of The Tempest is targeted at “everyone aged six and over” and so the audience is turned into the spirits of the island to help with the magic.
It’s one of many moments of audience participation incorporated into the play by director Jennifer Tang. There are also a number of original songs – lyrically and stylistically Shakespearean – with which we are encouraged to sing along.
Tang has made this play very family-friendly, removing some of the more problematic lines, which allows us to see the characters from a new perspective: particularly the evil Caliban, for whom we now have more pity.
There is a bright whimsy to this version of Prospero’s island, which uses the existing set from Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-written - also playing at the venue – draped with greenery and flowers.
Prospero’s cave is where we see magic replaced by technology. In Chiara Stephenson’s design, technology is entwined with nature. It appears just as much a part of the island as the surrounding flowers.
E.M. Parry’s costumes highlight the characters’ connections with each other, and with the environment around them, with scraps of plastic and netting embedded into the material. Caliban and Ariel’s costumes correspond to their domains as spirits, so we can see the limitations placed upon them. Though there is something incredibly stark and unnatural about the sheer whiteness of Ariel’s costume - especially against the rest of the characters - that it seems out of place.
The cast play around and push limits of what they can do onstage, resulting in some insanely funny moments. They could easily turn chaotic if the actors weren't so clearly in control.
This Tempest is a sweet, endearing, imaginative, family-friendly, light-hearted, colourful, comedy. It makes for a very enjoyable visit to Prospero’s island. Sitting among the trees of Regent's Park under the midday sun as actors sing and play to our sense of ridiculousness, it’s very hard not to see this version of The Tempest as being how Shakespeare intended it to be staged.
