“The Tempest”. By William Shakespeare. Directed by Steven Maler. Presented by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Boston Common through August 8.
by Michele Markarian
From the opening moment of “The Tempest”, Prospero (John Douglas Thompson) front and center, the cast readied behind him, exhaling audibly with rising urgency, you know you’re about to witness something special. The tempest itself is a thing of terrifying beauty, causing sails and passengers to flail and fall. There’s nothing like the wonder of watching a play where you know what’s going to happen but, in the moment of the scene, you completely forget. Let’s just say I was relieved when Prospero assures his daughter Miranda (Nora Eschenheimer) in the next scene that none of the passengers have been hurt.
The victims of the shipwreck are those who plotted against Prospero, once the Duke of Milan. Betrayed by his brother Antonio (Remo Airaldi) and Alonso, the King of Naples (Richard Noble), Prospero and Miranda are kidnapped and put on a raft so unstable that “the very rats instinctively had quit it”. The two of them are alive because Prospero’s friend Gonzala (Siobhan Juanita Brown) supplied them with some food and more importantly, Prospero’s books, from where he gathers his knowledge of magic. It has been twelve years since his abduction; Prospero has summoned the tempest as an opportunity to make amends with those who wronged him.
It is an earthy, physical production with an extremely gifted cast. John Lam, as Ariel, is remarkable, demonstrating the ability to be both of this world and another. He portrays Ariel’s essence with the lightness of a spirit, while exhibiting the strength and physicality of an athlete.Nora Eschenheimer is bold, strong and sure-footed as Miranda, well-matched against Michael Underhill’s more worldly Ferdinand. Fred Sullivan Jr. as Stephano, Alonso’s drunken butler, is hilarious. Nael Nacer plays Caliban touchingly. When he speaks, after describing a dream about the island, the words “…that when I waked/I cried to dream again” Nacer shows us a finer, more sensitive creature than we perceive him to be. Gorgeous vocals are thoughtfully provided throughout, in particular the dreamy trio of Ekemini Espo, Jessie Golden and Marta Rymer.
It is John Douglas Thompson, as Prospero, who commands the stage with the utmost skill, projecting both great strength and vulnerability. Through Maler’s direction and Thompson’s stately presence, one truly has the sense that he is the puppet master, the center of the island’s universe around which the other inhabitants revolve. He captures completely a man on the cusp of decline, as evidenced by shows of power and the desire to relinquish it. “And thence retire me to my Milan, where every third thought shall be my grave”. He knows the tide is turning, and getting his accounts in order is a necessary step in moving forward. Oddly enough, one of the more affecting moments of the play for this reviewer was not the release of Ariel or the reunion between Alonso and Ferdinand, but the emotionally charged farewell embrace between Prospero and Caliban.
The minimalist set, co-created by Clint Ramos and Jeffrey Petersen, conjures up an island, with its backdrop of ropes and sandy floors. Co-lighting designers Eric Southern and Maximo Grano De Oro create some wonderfully atmospheric moments, particularly the lush and dramatic wedding blessing scene. Choreographer and Movement Coach Levi Philip Marsman makes the most of Maler’s tensile cast, the island dwellers moving with a ruggedness unavailable to their city visitors.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever seen here”, whispered my companion to me, high praise indeed given Commonwealth Shakespeare’s twenty-five-year history with our city. As I sat under the stars, thinking of the quality of the performances we just witnessed, I thought to myself, how lucky we are to have this in Boston. For additional information, go to: https://commshakes.org/production/the-tempest-2/
