Review: The Tempest by Actors From The London Stage
by Hannah Bisewski
In the midst of the whirlwind of Shakespeare that is the current Austin theatre scene, audiences of this week's performance of The Tempest, put on by the intrepid Actors from the London Stage, were in for an exceptional and wildly successful rendition at the B. Iden Payne Theatre on UT's campus. For the past two years, a small troupe of AFLS actors has taken up a short fall residency at UT Austin, each time performing a different Shakespeare play in their own minimalist fashion. This 35-year-old program, housed at Notre Dame University, brings small groups of actors classically trained in Britain for performances and master classes at U.S. universities.
Because there are only five actors cast in each play, each must assume several roles throughout. When they initially present themselves to the theatre, listing out each character they’ll portray, one may be dismayed or at the very least concerned that the next two hours will be difficult. These actors immediately overcome those misgivings, for they breathe dramatic energy into each character with such precision that not once do spectators find themselves confused.
When London Stage actors find themselves in a scene that requires one of them to perform two roles at once, they resort to humorous, inventive solutions and the scenes never lose their energy. After all, these actors are from one of the oldest touring theatre companies in the world. Twice each year, AFLS members tour between eight and ten universities, performing and working closely with faculty and students to enhance programs for performing arts and English literature.
This year’s selection The Tempest is the lyrical, other-worldly tale of Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, whose brothers Antonio and Alonso robbed him of his title twelve years earlier. They set Prospero and his daughter Miranda adrift in a leaky boat that eventually cast them up on an enchanted island. Here the spirit Ariel serves Prospero, who keeps the monster Caliban in bondage. The story opens as Prospero conjures a storm that will shipwreck his enemies.
The curtain rises on a stage marked with a pentagram in tape, surrounded by the assortment of costume pieces the actors will use for quick character changes. The rules of the performance are clear: anything that happens inside the pentagram is part of the play. As soon as an actor steps outside, he is out of the show -- to make a quick costume change, to create some sound effect, or to hum an accompanying melody. One of the most pleasant surprises of the evening was the contribution of these small audio accompaniments to the ambience of the play. Even when an actor donned and then doffed an article of clothing to change characters every other line—and in spite of the humor of such a scenario—the mood of exotic mystery never diminished.
The actors regularly relied on props or costume changes to indicate a change in character; but just as often they signaled the change with no more than a shift in manner and attitude, each time so evident, thorough and nuanced that one understood even before a word was spoken.
These values in stage performance are carefully consistent with the mission of the theatre troupe; during their week of residence the actors conducedt classes studying a scene from the play in performance, identifying the dramatic energy and demonstrating how it is manifested in each and every line.
The Actors from the London Stage performed Wednesday through Friday at the B. Iden Payne Theatre at the University of Texas. Tonight they present The Tempest at the barn used by the Shakespeare-at-Winedale program near Round Top.
EXTRA
Click to view program template for the AFLS fall, 2011 tour of The Tempest
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The Tempest
by William Shakespeare
Actors From The London Stage
