Word: tempester
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Before the tempest struck, Delwara Begum and her family went to bed untroubled by the roaring winds, even though the monsoon season was approaching. Delwara was too poor to own a radio and did not know that the government had announced a signal-9 storm -- the second most severe warning -- earlier in the day. As the 20-ft. tidal waves destroyed her house, Delwara clutched her six-year-old daughter, clung to a bamboo beam, and was washed up battered but alive seven miles away; her husband and five other children perished...
Lasers embroidered the curtains with bursts of aquamarine and white to simulate lightning. An electronic hiss and crackle conjured up thunder. Billows of cloth suggested wind and rain, then fell away to reveal the swaying prow of a tempest-tossed Renaissance ship. Its captain shouted orders, wrestled with the wheel, tumbled into a make-believe sea and emerged a moment later as if dragging himself onto shore. He cried in triumph, "Sweet Jesus, I'm alive...
...Tempest involves a savage storm, visiting goddesses, star-crossed lovers and supernatural powers and begins. But Bishop's production, rather than bewitching the audience, only leaves those unfamiliar with the text confused, and those acquainted, sorely disappointed...
...Bishop favors innovation rather than textual adherence. Her crosscasting of Ariel and Sebastian, the brother of Alonso, King of Naples certainly holds some potential for subversive entertainment. But in this production of The Tempest, that potential is never realized. The fault lies not with the interpretations themselves, but with sheer carelessness and bad acting. What the text clearly demands, the actor fail to supply...
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...