The Tempest

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

London SE1

It's a rare treat sitting in this theatre, the replica of a Jacobean indoor playhouse abutting the Globe theatre which opened two years ago.

A beautifully wrought, intimate and candlelit space, its stage is small but the setting is magical.

Practitioners are still rising to the challenges the space offers and Dominic Dromgoole’s production of Shakespeare's The Tempest is something of a curate’s egg in terms of the use of the space and the performances he draws from the cast.

On the plus side, the costumes are period and the lack of high tech puts the onus back on actors. with the help of wonderful live musicians, to create the play's fantastical world. Thus Ariel and Iris fly in on lines through a trap door, a throwback to Elisabethan stage technology and highly enjoyable for all that.

But lighting is certainly an issue. There is no natural light, only candles mounted on chandeliers which drop in and out according to requirements and from some parts of the auditorium it's difficult to see the actors’ faces clearly enough, while elsewhere the audience gazes at the action through chandeliers of light.

The performances, too, are problematic. Tim McMullan — a fine actor, with an excellent voice — speaks the verse well, especially the big speeches. But somehow it's an interpretation which comes across as detached or even impressionistic. This is not a warm or rounded Prospero.

Apart from McMullan there is little in the way of verse speaking or performance to relish. Phoebe Pryce delivers a vocally weak Miranda, playing all her scenes downbeat, Fisado Akinade's Caliban disappoints and Joseph Marcell's Gonzalo is competent but uninspiring.

But comedy duo Dominic Rowan as Trinculo and Trevor Fox’s Stephano lift proceedings and Pippa Nixon finds a truthfulness in her Ariel as does Dharmesh Patel in his Ferdinand.

One senses that Dromgoole has foregone text exploration with the actors and the production lacks energy and vivacity. In consequence, little light is shed on this strange and difficult play, a product of Shakespeare’s final years.

Runs until April 22, box office: shakespearesglobe.com

Review by Gillian Piggott