The last major opening in London of 2024 has arrived with considerable fanfare, and it’s easy to see why there’s so much hype. The latest in a series of West End outings for the Jamie Lloyd Company, following on from Romeo & Juliet (starring Tom Holland) earlier this year and Sunset Blvd (starring Nicole Scherzinger) last winter, Shakespeare’s The Tempest has just opened at the cavernous Theatre Royal Drury Lane starring Sigourney Weaver, who is making her West End debut. So does it live up to the hype?
Being honest we were somewhat underwhelmed, but we shall start with some positives: Jamie Lloyd’s minimalist staging (we’ve come to expect this from him) is effective here. The action unfolds on a dystopian sci-fi set, an expansive, derelict wasteland, which feels like it could go on forever thanks to the sizeable stage of this particular theatre. Jon Clark’s lighting really looks the part, allowing for some snappy, seamless scene changes, and when there’s something magical happening on stage it often looks genuinely impressive.
So The Tempest is an aesthetically pleasing show, but that’s about the only aspect we truly enjoyed about this production. Those who’ve been drawn to the theatre thanks to Weaver’s star power will be disappointed to learn she’s been given very little to do. In the lead role of Prospero she’s on stage for the vast majority of the run time, but most of her lines are delivered sat down, directly to the audience, in a weird monotone delivery. Her considerable acting talent feels completely underused in this strangely limited role.
Speaking of which, we expect there may be a fair few in the audience who are casual theatregoers, who have bought a ticket to see one of their favourite actors. The issue here is that this is quite an incomprehensible rendition of the play: much has been trimmed to bring the show to a run time scarcely lasting two hours (including interval), and there’s a weird emphasis on the comedy subplot involving Trinculo and Stephano (Mathew Horne and Jason Barnett respectively), while the main narrative of the play unfolds disjointedly in the background, almost as an afterthought. If you don’t already know the story of The Tempest before going in, you may well leave the theatre none the wiser as to what it’s actually about.
It’s disappointing – we’ve come to expect something interesting and exciting from Jamie Lloyd’s productions, and while it’s certainly an unusual take on The Tempest, we honestly found ourselves quite bored, quite a lot of the time. There are occasional moments of enjoyment – Mason Alexander Park is captivating as Ariel, often (literally) lighting up the stage, and we warmed to Mara Huf as Prospero’s daughter Miranda. Sadly, for the most part this production is underpowered, underwhelming and at times incomprehensible. A missed opportunity.
GAY TIMES gives The Tempest – 2/5
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