With minimalist staging and effects Shakespeare's last play contrives to enchant us at the Arts Theatre, just as Prospero casts his spells on his island-bound captives, the victims of the storm he has conjured up. Six hanging ropes take centre stage, serving as both scenery and props as the multi-tasking cast swing from them, take shelter among them and use them as weapons against each other.
      Prospero, the rightful but deposed and exiled Duke of Milan, played sympathetically and charismatically by Robert Mountford, dominates the proceedings, along with Ariel, his spirit servant who is instrumental in carrying out various spells against the shipwrecked company. This includes the usurping Duke (Prospero's brother Antonio), co-conspirator Alonso (King of Naples) and his son Ferdinand. What ensues is a love story, an assassination plot, treachery and eventual forgiveness: we are asked to imagine a great deal, and are helped along by some video projections and sound and lighting effects, but in the end it is by the efforts of the young cast (with the omnipresent ropes) that we are transported.
Low-budget but high energy, this production requires the young cast to double up on their roles, with interesting but at times confusing results. Keith Thorne, making his professional debut as Caliban / Gonzalo, makes the job seem easy: from writhing, physically disgusting Caliban to upright and dignified Gonzalo; Jessica Manley makes for a charmingly innocent Miranda but a less convincing Alonso. Prospero is a large enough role that an actor playing him wouldn't normally be expected to play Trinculo as well, and this doubling is not so successful. Ariel, perhaps fittingly, is the only character that does not have to share her actor (Caroline Kilpatrick) - and is perhaps the most down to earth and funny member of the cast.
If the programme hadn't mentioned that the production company, Tara, was a cross-cultural, East-meets-West organisation I would have thought nothing of the mixed race casting and Islamic touches to the proceedings - it's what one expects in the theatre as a reflection of the multi-ethnic community we inhabit. It was nice to see that the young, enthusiastic audience also reflected this mix. An uplifting beginning to a new year.
Chris Brody