Word: stephano
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...occasional redeeming factor interrupted the monotone of bad direction. The energy of the storm scene, and the agonized crawling to evoke the landing on the island both impressed with their improvisational power and dynamism. The comic interchange between Caliban, Stephano and Trincula sometimes rose above cliche, with original blocking and choreography...
Steve Petersen and Jeff Branion as the drunken cohorts Trinculo and Stephano are the delightful exceptions in The Tempest, their comic rapport is as convincing as it is entertaining. And John Ducey as Caliban frequently conveys the pathos and grotesqueness of his character effectively. But their performances are not enough to redeem a production rendered in a dramatic monochrome...
...play's other actors try for less serious performances. Mike Gaw and Robert P. Chapski wryly exaggerate their cameos as Portia's unsuccessful suitors. Jeff Hobson is a nicely lecherous Lancelot Gobbo. Phil Fry squeezes the maximum comedic possibilities from his roles as servant Stephano and the blind Old Gobbo...
SEVERAL PROBLEMS MAR Bradford's approach to the text. Why, for instance, has he not cut the distracting subplots often excluded in contemporary productions--such as the hackneyed drinking scenes between Caliban and minor characters Trinculo and Stephano, or the awkwardly staged scene in which the goddesses Iris, Ceres and Juno appear? These types of passages have little charm and distract the audience from the more important issues of the play. Bradford could have populated his huge stage in other ways...
Like Serban, Strehler introduces anachronisms into his production - the commedia dell'arte for the comic duo of Trinculo and Stephano, for example, and a hint of Peking opera mannerism for Ariel - but they effectively underscore the contrasts between the spirit and human worlds, making the confrontation even more pointed. This is a Tempest of clarity, strength and purpose - exactly what was lacking in the Royal Opera's Turandot. The cross-cultural irony is inescapable: the English company presenting the Italian opera had failed, but the Italians staging an English classic had made a glorious success...