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Barbara Loots
The tradition of Shakespeare under the stars continues as the beloved Maynardville Open-Air Festival pays homage to the Bard once again with his timeless classic, THE TEMPEST, under the direction of Sylvaine Strike. What promises to sweep audiences away with an enchanting tale set on an island where storms and mysteries collide, delivers the promised magic in a somewhat diluted form.
As a brief synopsis: On an island we meet Prospera (the female incarnation of Shakespeare’s original Prospero), the exiled Duke of Milan, stirring up a magical storm to shipwreck those who wronged her (including her brother Antonio, the reason she finds herself on the island). In her search for justice, she commands her servants to toy with the survivors at her pleasure, revealing subplots of attempted power-plays and pursuits of freedom. While her servants are chasing the shipwrecked crew, she gives her blessing to the betrothal of her daughter Miranda to Ferdinand, the son of Alonso, the King of Naples. Following this maternal act, she leaves the island to reclaim her standing in Milan’s royal circles as she forgives all who wronged her.
So set, Shakespeare’s 1611 penned THE TEMPEST explores themes of betrayal, banishment, enslavement, abuse, power struggles, revenge, forgiveness, love, and family, all cloaked in the mystical appeal of magic.
Rumoured to be the last full play written by the Bard, it is seemingly inspired by tragedy that struck a seventeenth-century English ship, Sea Venture, which in 1609 was hit by a tropical hurricane (a raging tempest if you will), which left the crew and passengers shipwrecked on an island in Bermuda. Although inspired by tragedy, Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST isn’t all doom-and-gloom: It’s also part comedy with a hint of romance, as well as giving a view of colonialism through a British lens ala Shakespeare, but sadly that latter perspective is not often interrogated in great depth.
The latest staging of THE TEMPEST, as part of this year’s Maynardville Open-Air Festival, has condensed the play into approximately 90 minutes. In doing so, the primary focus appears to fall on the dynamic between the themes of vengeance and forgiveness. Viewing the play as such, one expects Prospera (portrayed by the Doyennes of South African theatre, Antoinette Kellerman) to have a sense of gravitas.
Having a female lead is by no means a novel idea when it comes to THE TEMPEST: Helen Mirren did so in the 2010 movie by the same name, emphasising the fact that a woman can step into the role without the necessity to vastly adapt Shakespeare’s text. A character gender swap does not change the sense of command Shakespeare envisioned for (and against which one measures any performance of) the source of the magic in this play.
Kellerman’s Prospera has some of the enigmatic characteristics one would expect from someone stepping into the role of one of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters. Yet, the cloak of Prospero/Prospera is a heavy burden to bear –one often stumbles upon references to Prospero in modern day movies and television series as proof of a character-mark left that transcends the ages.
With this latest staging of THE TEMPEST (and perhaps because the story has been diluted in pursuit of a more manageable runtime), the level of vengeance one seeks from Kellerman’s portrayal, to off-set Prospera’s ultimate act of forgiveness, doesn’t read onstage. I am not saying that vengeance should reflect as lots of shouting and overacting, but one must sense an anger bubbling, a power simmering just under the surface. This is needed to contrast any shift in sentiment when the emotional tides change towards the end of the play. The absence of such emotional depth is not limited to Prospera, but reflected in most other performances too, giving the show a rather one-dimensional feel.
The production also falls into the Miranda-trap, namely calling on Jane De Wet to mainly portray her as an overly hormonal teen and giving her little room in which to explore the empathy of the character. This further undermines the romantic undertones within the play, as Miranda is mostly all hormones, while Ferdinand (Jefferson Lan) looks rather modest in reaction when compared to Miranda’s overzealous amour.
A few performances however did hit the mark. Albert Pretorius’ portrayal of Caliban is a bold nod to Shakespeare’s vision of a savage and deformed being, the offspring of the devil-worshipping witch, Sycorax. Pretorius’ Caliban reveals him almost absurdly animalistic, with mannerisms and speech that stand in contrast to the rest of the characters. The duo of Tankiso Mamabolo (the court jester, Trinculo) and David Viviers (the drunken butler, Stephano) further embrace the comedy that threads through THE TEMPEST, to great delight.
Though there’s excellent clowning at play, this may ironically be so good it overshadow the underlying darkness in relation to the duo’s colluding conspiratorial ways, the subplot of a selfish pursuit of power: Another layer of crafty Shakespearean darkness the direction appears to miss or intentionally compromise.
Personally, I wish this staging of THE TEMPEST made more of the evil underlying the oppressive master-servant relationships and the elusive idea of freedom (always used as a bargaining chip in service of other peoples’ hunger for (more) power).
The choreography (which shows off the ways of Prospera’s imprisoned spirits, led by Daniel Lasker as Ariel), lighting design (by Oliver Hauser), and set and costume design (by Niall Griffin) lay the aesthetic foundation that gives the production a hint of the magic that remindof that found in the original tale. The design by Griffin reflects his keen eye for detail: The set specifically incorporates a shipwreck feature that doubles as the island that Prospera now calls home. Given the potential playground the wreck-like centre piece provides, it’s rather disappointing that it feels a bit underutilised by the actors in their performances.
However, if you like A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, I am betting you are/would be a fan of THE TEMPEST’s mystical manoeuvres, and may forgive much in exchange for a chance to see the characters come alive onstage.
This version of THE TEMPEST is a rather light form of Shakespearean entertainment. If you don’t scratch too hard at the surface of the performances and don’t interrogate the character dynamics too much, you will find it an enjoyable theatrical meander under the Maynardville stars –even if a rather glib staging that does much posturing but delivers little substance.
You can see THE TEMPEST onstage at the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre Festival until 8 March 2025. Tickets can be booked online through Quicket. Ticket prices range between R220 and R380 per person.