THE TEMPEST. To 2 September.

Edinburgh/Musselburgh

THE TEMPEST
by William Shakespeare

Theatre Alba at Duddingston Kirk Gardens To 27 August
Wed-Sun 7.45pm
then Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh 1-2 September 2006
Runs 2hr 15min One interval

TICKETS: 0131 556 9579
0131 226 0000
www.theatrealba.ukvintage.co.uk (Duddingston)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 13 August

A breeze of a Tempest
On a warm-enough night (yes, there's been a heat-wave but this is Edinburgh) it's easy to imagine Shakespeare's tropical island in the lush greenery and distant view of Duddingston Loch during The Tempest. Theatre Alba's regular open-air summer venue provides a magical place too when it's more than half-dark and Prospero makes his final invocation to the local spirits, rotating as he does so, with answering lights illuminating trees, as if their sprites are listening-in.

Till then it's been a fair run-through the play. Keith Hutcheon seems a curiously laid-back Prospero, rarely looking at those to whom he speaks, and only finding any fire within him in the final scene. There again, importing part of his Epilogue to the start gives a sense of someone who really does want to go home, now. Few Prosperos have shown a more thorough personal interest in a ship from Milan passing their island.

Emma Laidlaw seems a young lady brought up in a palace (or a manse, as we're by one) rather than on an island, but she speaks beautifully and shows due concern for the fate of the mariners during the opening tempest, running around one of director Charles Nowosielski's few overt effects. It's a huge gauze through which Propsero's head emerges, controlling the storm as the mariners grope under it - a remarkably vivid device.

Some acting lacks focus. But Sam Laydon's an interesting Ariel, an obedient pupil who, having asked for his freedom repeatedly, doesn't know what to do with it, standing still then walking purposelessly off. And Robert Williamson's Caliban has a striking change in his lyrical speech about the isle being full of noises, sowing an unexpected, yet believable, capacity for beauty in the otherwise brutish character.

Too little's made of the new arrivals and their evil propensities, but Alan Ireby is a physically and vocally strong Gonzalo, far from the feeble dodderer the character can be, someone who could easily start turning the island into the paradise he imagines it with his own hands. And while the comedy of the ship's lower-decks is too diffuse and not very inventive, Robin Thomson gives a measure of intelligence that makes clear why he's a Steward and his friend Trinculo merely ship's cook.

This Tempest is plain sailing; there are subtleties not explored, but it's a clear account with some interest in several characterisations.

Prospero: Keith Hutcheon
Miranda: Emma Laidlaw
Caliban: Robert Williamson
Ariel: Sam Laydon
Ferdinand: James Ashton
Alonso: Marcus Macleod
Gonzalo: Alan Ireby
Antonio: Duncan R Edwards
Sebastian: Simon Messer
Trinculo: Alan Scott-Douglas
Stephano: Robin Thomson
Adrian: David Ellis
Fransico: Patrick Griffin
Boatswain: Frank Skelly
Spirits: Eleanor Cairns, Bethany Laurie, Katiue Swinton, Kirstin Gillespie

Director: Charles Nowosielski
Music: Richard Cherns
Assistant music: Peter Reid
Choreographer: Marie Fraser

2006-08-14 14:43:53