Almost certainly Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest tells the story of Prospero, Prospero, Duke of Milan. His dukedom is usurped by his brother Antonio and together with his daughter Miranda, he is put to sea with some magical books smuggled in by his loyal councillor Gonzalo. The sea casts them up on an island where Prospero, exercising his magical powers, makes a home for himself and Miranda. One day a great storm, which Prospero has conjured, breaks up a passing ship and delivers to him the members of his usurping court. Treacherous brother, fellow conspirators and old friend alike come under Prospero's spell.
Ralph Fiennes was last on the London stage in 2008 when he played the title role in the National Theatre's production of Oedipus. His many other stage credits include God of Carnage, Julius Caesar, Brand, Coriolanus, Richard II and Hamlet, which transferred to Broadway, where he has also appeared in Faith Healer.
In addition to Lord Voldemost in the Harry Potter films, Ralph Fiennes films include Coriolanus, Cemetery Junction, The Reader, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, The English Patient, Schindler’s List, Quiz Show and the new James Bond film, which he’ll begin shooting after The Tempest.
He is joined in The Tempest by Nicholas Lyndhurst as Trinculo (best known for playing Rodney in the BBC's long-running sitcom Only Fools and Horses), Clive Wood as Stephano and Elisabeth Hopper (currently appearing in Trevor Nunn's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Theatre Royal Haymarket) as Miranda.
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Trevor Nunn’s starry production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest opened to critics at the Theatre Royal Haymarket last night (6 September 2011, previews from 27 August).
Thought by most to be Shakespeare’s last play, the action is set on a remote island patrolled by the ageing Prospero, played by Ralph Fiennes (Oedipus, God of Carnage, Julius Caesar), who controls the spirits of the island with his magic powers.
The cast also boasts Nicholas Lyndhurst (best known for his role as Rodney in Only Fools and Horses) as Trinculo, Clive Wood as Stephano and Elisabeth Hopper (who recently appeared in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) as Miranda. The Tempest continues until 29 October.
“This really is an island full of noises, sound and sweet airs: Trevor Nunn's production is full of it … Nunn is pulling out all the stops ... There's rope work aplenty, back projections, a whole box of tricks. It's not a production that needs such gimmickry. At the heart of it is an excellent Prospero from Ralph Fiennes … Fiennes presents Propero as neither a domineering tyrant nor as a manipulator, but as a world-weary middle-aged man … Fiennes is a superb verse speaker and he brings some tenderness to the role ... we see Tom Byam Shaw's nicely-judged portrayal, develop a sense of humanity ... He's well supported by Elisabeth Hopper's Miranda... This is a totally believable teenager and well complemented by Michael Benz's Ferdinand. Second billing is Nicholas Lyndhurst's Trinculo … but neither he, nor Clive Wood's Stephano, really get to grips with the comic potential of their characters ... Better are the shipwrecked courtiers with Chris Andrew Mellon's rather camp Sebastian and Julian Wadham's scheming Antonio a choice pair of villains ... This is a traditional Tempest with little exploration of the undertones of colonialism or psychological insights of some more recent productions. But it's worth seeing for Fiennes' very human Prospero and some rather fine verse speaking underneath the overblown musical trappings.”
“The Tempest … can be seen, among myriad other things, as anti-colonialist tract, theatrical metaphor and spiritual allegory. And Trevor Nunn, in this new production, leans very much towards the last … It occasionally runs the risk of sentimentality. The final passages of reconciliation are swathed in soothing, mock-baroque music. Giles Terera's Caliban, having been dispossessed of his island kingdom, rather tamely submits to Prospero's patronising beneficence at the conclusion ... But, although Nunn's production softens some of the play's harsher edges, it boasts in Ralph Fiennes a Prospero full of the right tortured nobility ... Three other performances stand out. Tom Byam Shaw's Ariel is an airborne spirit who belies his diaphanous otherness by positively shaking with fervour when he makes his plea for ‘liberty’. Andrew Jarvis also lends the old counsellor, Gonzalo, a sense of mature wisdom ... And Chris Andrew Mellon invests the crown-hungry Sebastian with a glittering malignancy … It's not a Tempest that offers any startling revelations or insights … but is ‘harmonious charmingly’.”
”Trevor Nunn … is sometimes infected by his inability to make a dramatic point succinctly ... Ralph Fiennes’ Prospero patrols the stage … luxuriantly savouring every slowly delivered syllable as if relishing a particularly fine wine. As a result, The Tempest … lasts a punishing three hours ... Nunn’s other flaw as a director is to turn whatever work he happens to be directing into something resembling a lavish musical, and that is also the case here ... But the worst fault of all … is that Nunn sentimentalises the play. In Shakespeare’s text Prospero’s forgiveness is hard won, the sinners’ repentance highly qualified. Here, Nunn tries to close the play in a golden glow ... The ending ought to be much tougher. Fiennes certainly cuts an impressive and commanding figure on stage ... Tom Byam Shaw makes a memorably ethereal Ariel. There is a terrific double act from Nicholas Lyndhurst as a deliciously aggrieved Trinculo and Clive Wood as a spectacularly drunk and boorish Stephano. But when the clowns are the highlight of a Shakespearean play, you know the show is in trouble.”
”Ralph Fiennes is the best thing in this rather sluggish production of Shakespeare's shortest play. Fiennes' lonely, controlling Prospero is not so very far removed from his Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter. As this master illusionist - once duke of Milan, now a desert island exile - he is brooding and saturnine, at times resembling a ragged holy man. He suggests the steely certainty of an autocrat. Yet his performance, marked by a lucid way with Shakespeare's verse, has a dignity and humanity that make the character more sympathetic than is usually the case. In other respects, Trevor Nunn's account of the play is coherent but tepid … Ultimately, the drama should ooze romance while suggesting its author's renunciation of all the romantic power of theatre. It doesn't pull this off, but it's worth seeing for Fiennes. His Prospero is a tortured and complex presence.”
Quentin Letts Daily Mail ★★★
"Boy, this Sir Trevor Nunn production of The Tempest is gluey at times. Gluey and creaky, if that is possible. But it slowly delivers a central performance of rare force by Ralph Fiennes, playing Prospero. But for him, it would be a turkey. Director Sir Trevor has a reputation for stretching scenes like old chewing gum. The Tempest needs a long runway at the best of times but this one takes forever to get airborne, despite some lovely diction by Mr Fiennes in the drawn-out early scene when Prospero tells daughter Miranda his life story … Miranda is played prettily and with ripe charm by Elizabeth Hopper. Michael Benz is similarly likeable as her boyfriend Ferdinand. There are bursts of faintly furry, floaty music. They grow on you, as does Tom Byam Shaw's terribly camp Ariel … Nicholas Lyndhurst of TV's Only Fools and Horses plays Trinculo but he brings little to the evening. He himself is probably not to blame. The direction seems to be fiendishly uninspired. But let us return to Mr Fiennes. Forget that with his high brow and blazing eyes he resembles the football commentator Alan Hansen. Drip by drip, slow plod by slow plod, he builds a Prospero who is world-wise, forgiving, a prophet of love in an undeserving world. His fine acting saves the day.”
This really is an island full of noises, sound and sweet airs: Trevor Nunn's production is full of it. Perhaps it's the number of musicals he's directed but it seems he can't resist a musical number.
Nor can he resist stage trickery; Nunn is pulling out all the stops, with an Ariel (played by three actors at this point) throwing fire during the storm. There's rope work a-plenty, back projections, a whole box of tricks.
It's not a production that needs such gimmickry. At the heart of it is an excellent Prospero from Ralph Fiennes.
Compared to more recent incarnations, Fiennes presents Propero as neither a domineering tyrant nor as a manipulator, but as a world-weary middle-aged man. Even when he's subjecting Ferdinand to his tasks, there's little sense of any dominance.
Fiennes is a superb verse speaker and he brings some tenderness to the role, not just to his daughter – there’s a real sense of Prospero as a father – but also to Ariel. Just as Miranda emerges as a young woman in the course of the play, so do we see Tom Byam Shaw's nicely-judged portrayal, develop a sense of humanity. When he’s finally set free, he departs with all the exuberance of a teenager leaving home for the first time.
He's well supported by Elisabeth Hopper's Miranda – full of teenage angst and totally smitten with Ferdinand. This is a totally believable teenager and well complemented by Michael Benz's Ferdinand.
Second billing is Nicholas Lyndhurst's Trinculo (surely a first for this character) but neither he, nor Clive Wood's Stephano, really get to grips with the comic potential of their characters – there have been far funnier pairings.
Better are the shipwrecked courtiers with Chris Andrew Mellon's rather camp Sebastian and Julian Wadham's scheming Antonio a choice pair of villains. There's also a rather fine Gonzalo from Andrew Jarvis, savouring every word.
This is traditional Tempest with little exploration of the undertones of colonialism or psychological insights of some more recent productions. But it's worth seeing for Fiennes' very human Prospero and some rather fine verse speaking underneath the overblown musical trappings.
The last production of The Tempest I saw clocked in at just two hours but inevitably Trevor Nunn has managed to drag out Shakespeare's shortest play to three hours (including interval) and apparently it was nearer to four hours at one point of the rehearsal period. As so often with Nunn these days the result is ofetn turgid with much of the magic lost and things reach a nadir with an interminable wedding presided over by Cirque de Soleil. Although some of the acting in minor roles is pretty poor there are some excellent performances, particularly Andrew Jarvis as Gonzalo, Elizabeth Hopper as a delightfully childlike Miranda and Tom Byam Shaw as Ariel (one of three!) who is a much less irritating spirit than some I have seen. However, Nicholas Lyndhurst doesn't justify second billing as Trinculo and I felt that the characterisation of Caliban was completely misjudged. Ralph Fiennes portrays Prospero as a middle aged man weary of life and too tire to wreak full revenge on his usurpers. It's an unusually tolerant and forgiving Prospero but one that Fiennes puts across superbly and with tremendous command of the verse. It now seems amazing that Nunn was such an acclaimed Artistic Director of the RSC given some of his more recent efforts but despite this the magic of one of my favourite plays manages to survive. - David Baxter
28 Oct 11
The story telling was not there for me and I left in the interval. I felt uninvolved. Not sure about the set with buildings on it either when it is supposed to be an uninhabited island-it undercut the story somehow. SFX too were a little muted at times. I normally find the Tempest entrancing but this one did not engage me. - HL
25 Sep 11
Slow, slow, boring slow....slow. Oh of course it's directed by arch pedant Nunn, what else would it be? - Coralb
11 Sep 11
Ralph Fiennes is a performer of grace and gentleness, and these qualities result in a Prospero of overwhelming sincerity. When Fiennes is speaking, the play comes alive. However, when he isn't, the play often feels bitty and overlong. Just two years ago, the RSC collaborated with a South African theatre to present an urgent and profoundly affecting version of the Tempest, in which Antony Sher's Prospero is as much coloniser of Caliban as he is decolonised by the villains in his beloved Milan. This breathed a fire of anti-colonialist rage beneath the surface tenderness of the play, which was riveting. No such focus or vision is applied to this production beyond the fact that time is running out (as symbolised by an hourglass of running sand that Prospero places in the stage foreground). Thus, the play fails to come fully to life, and the disparate characters and scenes feel somewhat disjointed. I sat behind Elizabeth Hopper's gran, who was as proud as punch of her ballerina turned actress grand-daughter, playing Miranda, in her first big break. I'd have to say she has much to be proud of, as Hopper brings the same gentleness and grace to Miranda that Fiennes brings to Prospero. In addition, she captures the wide-eyed naivety and excitement of a teenage girl exposed to men for the first time, which was impressive, since as her gran said, "she's actually 23." - Steve
10 Sep 11
Its pretty boring. Fiennes does a good job, but the whole story is dragged out, so at the end, the best part, you're abit tired, although nice singing - Andrew Lime
08 Sep 11
Saw it on the 29th and really liked it. It was my first "Tempest", so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I definitely enjoyed it, and the cast, especially Ralph Fiennes, Michael Benz and Elizabeth Hopper, were excellent.
I realized there were people in my row who didn't return after the interval, so apparently it really isn't for everyone's taste, but I had a wonderful evening. - Nanny
Opened 29 Dec 1720. Closed in 1737 (partly for attacking the government), re-opened 1747. The current theatre opened on 4th July 1821 and was designed by Nash. The last theatre in London to use candles (1837). 888 seats. Society of London Theatre member.
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