The Tempest

Set of The Tempest at the Barbican Theatre in London.

The Tempest was, by far, the most engaging theatrical experience I have had in my short 21 years of life. Taken place at the Barbican Theatre, the venue was, to my surprise, much bigger than I had anticipated, especially after my experience at Gatehouse, a very small amateur theatre, the night before. The theatre was swarming with people, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, until the theatre intercom called for people to find their seats within three minutes, which was about fifteen minutes earlier than my friend/classmate Brianna and I had expected. Rushing to check our bags before the play began, we luckily made it just in time to snap a quick photo of the set before the lights dimmed and the play began. The stage was vast, with two massive wrecked ship pieces on either side of the stage (pictured above), which proved to be quite versatile in their rendition of the story. The acoustics actually surprised me -- I was impressed that the actors were able to project that loudly and clearly.

 The set, of course, was beautiful, and the space around it was put to good use. The director of the play capitalized on the opportunity of the ship wreck to display the optical illusion of using light/shadow to make it look like the stage was actually moving. They also used the wide open space of the stage to bring down a huge screen, where they were able to use projections to flesh out the character of Ariel (who happened to also be my favorite character). The effects definitely made me feel more immersed into the play itself.

Because I am not very familiar with Shakespeare, it was difficult for me to understand the storyline; however, because of the effects, it allowed me to be more present in the moment. I was able to still feel the emotion of the play, even if I couldn't understand exactly what was happening. I think my only complaint with the actors is that Prospero was the only actor I had difficulty hearing -- he mumbled a lot of his lines, which I understand was to add emotion/drama, but it might have helped if he had a mic or projected more. Overall, I think the play did a wonderful job of translating Shakespeare's writing to the stage, and I would love to see more of these done in this style.