By Bridgette M. Redman
Dr. Arthur J. Beer stars as Prospero in "The Tempest." Photo: UDM Theatre Company
The joy of performing "The Tempest" is its otherworldly panorama of sprites, spirits, monsters and wild island environment. The University of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company clearly delighted in the special effect fun of creating a fantastical world in the closing production of their 40th season.
It was a show that celebrated anniversaries. This year marks the 400th anniversary since "The Tempest" was first performed. It was also the first show that the Theatre Company performed 40 years ago.
Directed by Andrew Huff, "The Tempest" mixed modern and traditional costuming and effects to create a place that was out of time. His mix of professional and student actors were all committed to the theme and the highly expressive physicality of the story in which Prospero (Dr. Arthur J. Beer) revenges the wrongs done to him and his daughter Miranda (Michelle Renaud) by his brother with the help of his spirit servant Ariel (Autumn Thiellesen) and slave monster Caliban (Joel Mitchell).
How do you perform a scene where no one can understand the words because of the overpowering sound effects? The Theatre Company borrowed a trick from the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. They made the opening scene a read-through with actors in street clothes, delivering lines around a table with the "director" reading the stage directions and giving certain instructions. Then the actors transformed the stage before the audience's eyes as they replayed the scene over the howling wind and crashing waves.
Renaud and Greg Grobis, as Prince Ferdinand, were delightfully innocent and precocious in their roles as two lovers free of the taint of the world's evils. Their sweet playfulness and eager joy made their love scenes fun and adorable. Renaud was delightful in her ingenuous simplicity, pure in her affection and childlike in her fears.
On opening night Beer struggled with the larger-than-life Prospero, lacking the full vocal quality that that role demands and occasionally stumbling with some of the lines. He did, though, make a devoted father who lovingly saw to his daughter's needs.
Even without makeup and costuming that did little to create a "monster," Mitchell's Caliban was rowdy and raucous. His committed physicality portrayed a creature deformed in body and mind who was fit for nothing but mocking scorn. Despite the constant movement and groveling, Mitchell's words were clear and easy to understand. Paired with the two clowns Trinculo (Chris Jakob) and Stephano (Anne Di Ionio), the threesome created lively scenes that were rich in slapstick and drunken hilarity.
Thiellesen's Ariel was Puckish and animated, displaying great charisma from her first entrance, particularly as she asked for her freedom and then is forced by Prospero to re-enact the painful imprisonment from which he rescued her.
The crew made large contributions to creating the fantastical feel of the island. Costume and scenic designer Melinda Pacha erected large white screens that acted as a panorama for Mark Choinski's lighting special effects. Ariel's blue tights set her apart from the other creatures on the island while Trinculo's costume hearkened to the more traditional presentation of a Shakespearean clown. She aptly mixed modern and period pieces that included tunics, cloaks, ties and Crocs. The shipwrecked royalty were all decked out in purples with Prospero's betrayers looking like gangsters out of the Roaring '20s.
Choinski deserves special props for the many lighting specials, especially those that created shadow stories at the behest of Prospero or his spirits. Especially effective was the shadow trick used when Prospero first begins to tell Miranda the tale of how they came to the island. Later a lighting special infuses Ariel with terrifying strength that makes the island's schemers quake in their boots.
The Theatre Company is producing a very solid, faithful representation of "The Tempest." It is two hours of travel through Shakespeare's final play, the culmination of a lifetime of storytelling by a master craftsman.
REVIEW:
'The Tempest'
UDM Theatre Company at Marygrove Theatre, 8425 W. McNichols Rd., Detroit. Friday-Sunday through April 10. $18. 313-993-3270. http://theatre.udmercy.edu
