REVIEW: The Tempest at The Drayton Arms, 25 April 2024

"There is only one word for this production: exceptional." ★★★★★

Make no mistake, Shakespeare is hard. He gives you a gift – but very few people can unwrap it. Finding one great Shakespearean performance is rare, let alone fourteen great Shakespearean performances. So let me just say, this vast cast blows it out of the water: they not only unwrap it, but they unpack it, wrap it up again, and give it back to you. Delivered by Burnt Orange Theatre, this thunderous and lean interpretation of The Tempest teases out its most magical and enigmatic qualities magnificently, without trying too hard.

Burnt Orange Theatre is a company of 16-21 year-olds, though I didn't want to patronise them by taking their age into account. As it turns out, it kind of is worth taking their age into account, as there is only one word for this production: exceptional. This company's command of the stage and the language of Shakespeare is extraordinary – for any age. Indeed I've seen bigger, more mature performances of these masterworks that have fallen far short of this one.

In this neatly abridged version of The Tempest, we dive headfirst into the eponymous storm, blowing up the small stage into the endless ocean through a stunning use of physical theatre, light, and sound. Absolute credit here to movement director Amy Rushent, Sarah Carvalho as movement captain (and playing the drunk Stephano), and technical manager Mason Dilworth; as well as, of course, to Anna Blackburn's breathtaking direction. The professionalism here is second-to-none. And this goes for all the movement, in all its often grotesque glory, throughout the whole play. Same for the light and sound, which is clean, creative, flawless, and dramatic. You're there on that shipwreck. Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

When we arrive on that middle-of-nowhere, mysterious land, Ioan Oosthuizen's booming voice and lyrical tone lends itself very well to the marooned sorcerer-Duke, Prospero, who throughout the piece seems somehow tortured by his own powers, physically ravaged, which, whether intentional or not, is a really nice touch.

Speaking of which, the nautical set and scruffy costumes in muted tones are terrific. You can almost smell the sea salt in the thick ropes and tatty rags, and it gives it a timelessness that adds to the overall disquiet: it's an island of liminal space, stranded in time just as much as at sea.

There are a few other stand-outs: Lauren McIntyre's Shakespearean voice as the slave Caliban is utterly fluid and fearless, with an ease that makes the text natural. She throws herself into it completely. But the same can be said for the cast as a whole.

As Prospero orchestrates everything around him – his daughter's romance, his enemy's shipwreck – the production hits every beat of action, with a perfect sense of drama. The uneasy colonialist inference is a whisper throughout and as relevant as ever. The pace and general tone is professional and precise, riding the waves of the story, perfectly balancing humour, tension, and beautifully subtle menace. Director Anna Blackburn has shaped a very skilled interpretation.

Now, full disclaimer, The Tempest is one of my favourites, but I don't think that has clouded my judgement: if anything, this performance had a lot more at stake because of the fact. But, either way, whether Shakespeare is for you or not, you can't deny that every element of this production is spot on, and it's been crafted in such a way that even a first-timer can enjoy it. It's fresh without messing around with the material and epic without being over-the-top.

You could lift this production exactly as it is and play it in a theatre ten times the size, and it would fill it no problem. It's made for it. Indeed when the rapturous, but naturally small-scale, applause came, I was almost struck by where we were, that I hadn't been sat in a full-scale West End theatre, so immersed had I been on that mysterious island, in this operatic performance. I found myself suddenly all at sea, sad to come ashore; like Prospero, our revels now were ended.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

Presented by Burnt Orange Theatre

Directed by Anna Blackburn

The Drayton Arms Theatre

Burnt Orange Theatre Company | Youth theatre | Hammersmith, London, UK

Reviewed by Alix Owen