Jonathan Walker/Collegian
Tempest-Tost , which premiered in the United States yesterday in Markel Auditorium, is a play rife with many different themes, topics and concepts. Addressing issues that range from the death of a loved one to sexist stereotyping, the play is all over the map when it comes to tired, recycled and clichéd notions of life and self realization.
Based on Robertson Davies novel Tempest-Tost, the play is about a small town who has six weeks to put on a performance—under the direction of big shot New York director Valentine Rich—of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Everything goes wrong, from attempted suicide to casual romantic liaisons, and as a result, all the characters come to some sort of self awareness.
Unfortunately, some of the characters’ self-renewals are not so obvious, and at the end the viewer wonders what exactly certain characters came to realize. Also, a number of themes are introduced at different times during the play—such as the champagne cider that Eddy makes for her father, the elusive death of Valentine’s grandfather and Griselda’s love affairs with two different men—are only addressed once and never resolved, leaving the viewer confused as to their meaning and significance.
The lack of cohesion within the play resulting from the dangling, unresolved conflicts affects the transitions between scenes as well as the overall understanding of the play. As a result, the characters are underdeveloped, and the Tower Players are left with little to work with, which is unfortunate, since a lot of talent is wasted on mediocre characters. Juniors Eily Hallagan, Rhiannon Angell and sophomores Tory Moul and Chris Stewart managed to make the best of the situation and brought their two dimensional characters to life, and, as always, it was a delight to watch them highlight the stage with their emotion and expression.
Stewart is hilarious as the self-absorbed, arrogant yet painfully sweet Mr. Hector Mackilwraith, who despite his honest efforts does not get the girl in the end. Stewart captures his character so well that the viewer cannot but sympathize and laugh at the same time whenever Stewart is on the stage.
One problem with some of the actors was that they wanted to make their characters British. The play is set in Ontario, in the fictional town of Salterton during the 1950s. The only character that has any reason to have an English accent is Solly Bridgetower, (played by sophomore Scott Smith) who had recently returned from studying abroad at Cambridge and had a twinge of an over-exaggerated accent. While the fake accents were distracting, the humor of the play was not lost, and maybe was even heightened by the actors’ pronunciation, since the characters’ were blatantly attempting to be more erudite and sophisticated to impress Valentine.
Despite the distractions from both the script and made-up regional dialects, the costuming and set design was pretty. The set consisted of a very lush, lusty and green back yard with real potted roses in delicate little flower beds at the front of the stage. The painted grass looked authentic, and the real flowers added a simplistic and elegant touch to the design. The costumes were cute and wholesome and accurate to the styles of the time, and framed the characters’ personalities nicely. Both background and costumes created a pleasant backdrop for the production.
Tempest-Tost will run in Markel Auditorium from March 1-4 at 8 p.m., and March 5 at 2 p.m. The show is rated PG.