The Tempest review: Alex Kingston gives a ‘revelatory’ performance as Prospero

Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s new production is ‘inspired’ in part, but has ‘rather clunky’ moments

Alex Kingston as Prospero: she ‘knows how to own that stage’
Alex Kingston as Prospero: she ‘knows how to own that stage’
(Image credit: Ikin Yum/RSC)

This new production of The Tempest, starring Alex Kingston as Prospero, is “one of the most confident, complete evenings Stratford has offered in ages”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. Director Elizabeth Freestone’s animating conceit is that the storm-wracked island has been engulfed by the litter that has washed up on its shores – foregrounding the play’s underlying themes of mercantilism and colonialism.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up