The Tempest (Royal Shakespeare Company)
"a truly terrific Tempest... The staging is exhilarating: not least in the masque that climaxes in a fiercely erotic, acrobatic dance... The result is a truly great production"
Rating: ★★★★★
--Michael Billington, THE GUARDIAN
"In such a clear and stimulating presentation, excellent performances abound... This production shows that when the company is at its best, nobody can do Shakespeare better. "
Rating: ★★★★★
--Maxwell Cooter, WHAT'S ON STAGE
"Michael Boyd's Tempest for the Royal Shakespeare Company is refreshing... He makes much of the circus skills of his players, many of whom show extraordinary courage as they ascend and descend ladders and ropes 50 ft or more above the ground... if Shakespeare saw it himself, he would have approved."
--Philip Fisher, BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE
"the mariners in the shipwreck and the spirits of the island (who are like verdigrised transmogrifications of the mariners) dangle from the ceiling on ropes and ladders, performing daredevil, mid-air stunts as they mime dreamy slo-mo drowning... This production expresses some of its best ideas through a graphic physicality."
--Paul Taylor, THE INDEPENDENT
"Something remarkable is happening at the Roundhouse... The show is visually thrilling, but doesn't let spectacle stand in the way of hard thought and strong interpretation... The Roundhouse famously played host to circuses in the past, and Boyd continues the tradition, with some stupendous aerial sequences... Mariners shin up and down swaying ladders and acrobats seem to tumble and float on ropes like the bodies of the drowned. "
--Charles Spencer, THE TELEGRAPH
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