As he nears the end of his tenure as artistic director of the Stratford Festival, Antoni Cimolino leaves on a high note with The Tempest, a production of considerable visual and aural splendour.
Ranil Sonnadara’s sound design, from crashing surf to the hush of the shoreline, deepens Julie Fox’s evocative vision of a rugged Mediterranean island. Here lives the exiled Prospero (Geraint Wyn Davies), once Duke of Milan, now marooned for 12 years with his daughter Miranda (Ashley Dingwell) after betrayal by his brother Antonio (Gordon S. Miller). On this island, Prospero has honed his magic and exerts uneasy authority over its inhabitants, commanding Ariel (Marissa Orjalo) and subjugating Caliban (Jonathan Goad).
When a ship carrying Antonio, Alonso, King of Naples (David Collins), and Alonso’s son Ferdinand (Dakota Jamal Wellman) sails within reach, Prospero summons the storm of the title and drives the party ashore. Separated and disoriented, the castaways are pulled through a sequence of trials as Prospero sets about a scheme aimed at justice, reconciliation and renewal. The plan begins to take shape when Miranda and Ferdinand meet.
Shakespeare’s final solo-authored play remains one of his most elusive, balancing enchantment with darker questions of power, control and forgiveness. Cimolino’s vision, as outlined in his director’s note, emphasizes humanity’s impulse to dominate and exploit, and the peril involved in confronting those impulses honestly.
The production’s theatrical magic is often dazzling. With illusion consulting by Eric Woolfe of Eldritch Theatre, the opening storm becomes a genuinely thrilling set piece, propelled by Sonnadara’s precisely timed sound and Imogen Wilson’s muscular lighting. A ship’s sail looming over the Festival Theatre stage, billowing as if caught by a real gale, lends the sequence an impressive sense of scale.
That same sequence also exposes the production’s main weakness: the sound during the shipwreck is so overpowering that crucial dialogue disappears. From the front of the theatre, several lines were inaudible, including text from Fiona Reid’s Gonzala, Collins’ Alonso, Jamie Mac’s Boatswain and Miller’s Antonio. In a production that otherwise treats Shakespeare’s language with care, the imbalance is a notable flaw.
Another memorable image arrives with the entrance of a jellyfish-like creature, its motion rendered with supple precision by movement director Adrienne Gould and the ensemble. It is an eerie, elegant piece of stagecraft.
Cimolino also keeps the play’s emotional currents in view. The comedy lands cleanly — Josue Laboucane’s drunken Trinculo and Ben Carlson’s Stephano provide welcome mischief — but the production’s deeper investment is in love, loss and familial repair. Dingwell’s Miranda and Wellman’s Ferdinand make a persuasive young pair, while the final reconciliation between Prospero and Antonio lands with quiet force.
As a director, Cimolino trusts the text. He gives the verse room to breathe and allows the actors to speak it with clarity and conviction. Wyn Davies makes for an imposing yet humane Prospero, a ruler intent on setting the island’s moral order right before relinquishing his powers.
Orjalo is a lively, spry pixie as Ariel, making a striking entrance as she springs from what appears to be a piano bench washed ashore. Dingwell gives Miranda intelligence and self-possession, while Wellman’s Ferdinand is earnest without fading into blandness. Goad’s Caliban, reptilian in bearing yet recognizably wounded and principled, avoids caricature.
The production acquires an added poignancy in its closing stretches. A still farewell between Prospero and Ariel resonates beyond the play itself, suggesting, however gently, a valedictory echo for Cimolino as he prepares to leave the company after decades of service.
The Tempest is well worth seeing as a thank you and appreciation to Antoni for his years of service to the Festival.
Running time: approximately two hours and 30 minutes with one interval.
The production runs to October 24 at the Festival Theatre, 55 Queen Street, Stratford. For tickets: stratfordfestival.ca or call 1-800-567-1600 or 1-519-273-1600.
THE STRATFORD FESTIVAL presents
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Directed by Antoni Cimolino
Set and Costume Designer: Julie Fox
Lighting Designer: Imogen Wilson
Composer: Berthold Carrière
Sound Designer: Ranil Sonnadara
Stage Manager: The. John Gray
Performers: Geraint Wyn Davies, Ashley Dingwell, Marissa Orjalo, Jonathan Goad, David Collins, Dakota Jamal Wellman, Gordon S. Miller, Micah Woods, Fiona Reid, Josue Laboucane, Ben Carlson, Michael Wamara, Landon Nesbitt, Emilio Vieira, Jamie Mac, Michelle Giroux, Jenna-Lee Hyde, Allison Lynch, Jacqueline Burtney, Paul Dunn, Jakob Ehman, Katarina Fiallos, John Kirkpatrick, Rose Napoli, Maher Sinno ماهر سنّو
