In a whirl over The Tempest

AN ALL-male cast gave a fresh, lively outdoor performance of The Tempest in the beautiful grounds of National Trust property The Vyne.

The audience arrived in dribs and drabs to set up chairs and lay out their picnics in front of the rickety wooden stage, which bore some resemblance to a battered old ship.

Appropriately, a grey sky threatened rain as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men began their performance in the midst of a tempest, after setting the scene with a few sailor’s songs.

The novelty of having an all-male cast is not as pronounced in The Tempest as in some of Shakespeare’s other plays, as Miranda is the only female.

But William Vasey played a remarkably convincing innocent young woman.

He was also one of several actors who doubled up roles, allowing those cast in more serious parts to show off their acting range and have a bit of fun, especially William Reay as a booming, drunken Stephano.

Ariel and Prospero (an impressively bearded Matt Bannister) occasionally appeared on an upper level of the stage, overlooking and manipulating the various characters ship-wrecked on Prospero’s island.

Craig Gordon gave an earnest and acrobatic interpretation of the enslaved spirit, who carries out his master’s vengeful schemes across the magical island for the promise of freedom.

His unusual enunciation – almost singing but putting stress on the ends of words while swaying on the spot – gave him an ethereal quality, marking him out from the “human” characters.

His earthly counterpart Caliban, Prospero’s plotting but naïve servant, was equally well played by Kristian Philips, skulking on bent legs with a twisted arm.

The weather did break but not until the final act, and the crowd was too engrossed to mind too much and happily packed up their soggy picnics after “releasing” the actors with their applause.