Word: tempester
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After the intermission, The Tempest begins to click. The turning point may well occur when the harpies emerge to terrify the ship-wrecked crew dressed in amoebic body stockings. The effect, for the first time, is very good, and the production takes off from there, building to a satisfying conclusion. In the final analysis, however, Shakespeare himself makes this show a success, for the script of The Tempest contains an abundance of good lines and absurd situations, all delivered in unique blank verse. The Adams/Quincy troupe rallies around the play and finishes triumphantly; despite some bogus effects, this Tempest...
...same sort of problem torments an otherwise solid production of The Tempest, an Adams-Quincy effort currently running in the Quincy dining hall. Directors Rik Englehardt, Cynthia Raymond and Laura Shiels, while no strangers to the world of Shakespeare (witness Engelhardt's and Shiels' similar production of A Midsummer Night's Dream last spring), tried very hard, perhaps a bit too hard, to make this production original. Their innovations, which include a cast with three Prosperos, three Calibans and three Mirandas (one to act, one to dance, one to mime), are interesting but unwieldy. The cast seems unable to overcome...
...Tempest concerns the passengers and crew of a Neapolitan ship wrecked on a seemingly deserted island, and the deposed duke who brought them there by sorcery. Reality is suffused with magic, and by the end of the play almost all of the characters have trouble distinguishing reality from illusion. This splendid confusion provides a perfect setting for avant-garde theater, in countless scenes where bizarre happenings become the norm. Thus the multiplication of leads is justifiable, even if it does not really work. The triumvirate of directors makes an honest stab at bringing elements of dance and mime into...
...true test of a play's quality lies in the performances of the supporting cast, and the actors of The Tempest all put a maximal effort into their parts. Particularly noteworthy are Johanna Defenderfer and Eva Simmons as Stephano and Trinculo, a pair of fear-stricken, drunken and very funny sailors. Ralph Zito turns in a macho, manic performance as Ariel, the spirit forced to do Prospero's blading. Joe White, as Sebastian, gets off some well-delivered lines, and Paul Rosta is a perfectly doddering, if one-dimensional, old fool as Gonzalo. The rest of the sailors and nobles...
...uninhabited, enchanted desert isle, The Tempest is often seen as the Englishman's version of America or as Shakespeare's testament to the belief that, starting with nothing, good people can create a new world. By diversifying the roles within the play and adding lots of mime and dance, directors Laura Shiels and Rick Engelhart hope to construct in the Adams/Quincy production of Tempest more than just another alternative to society's mistakes. On this island, they hope, a grand Christmas-time spectacle will occur. Performances begin tonight and run through Saturday, and also next weekend, in the Quincy dining...