The Tempest at Shakespeare North

Last week we bunked off work for the afternoon and went to the wonderful Shakespeare North theatre in Prescot, with friends.

We had booked tickets for a HandleBards production of The Tempest. We had all thoroughly enjoyed the riotous Love's Labours Lost in the summer and Twelfth Night last year, so we were rather excited.

We all had mixed responses to the production. On one hand it was full of energy and great fun, on the other hand, it was a little too frenetic and pantomimesque (is that a word? It is now!). The Tempest has never been amongst my favourire plays of the Bard, so consequently I'm not so familiar with the text that I can cope with the swapping and changing that went on, although the costumes were clear signals of who was on the stage at any one time.

I loved the opening of the play, with full audience participation - oohing and aahing, clicking our fingers and stamping our feet. All, I assume, to simulate the storm on Prospero's island. I'm not normally a fan of audience participation, but the cast introduced this and handled it really well. I did enjoy the moment when searching for his father, Ferdinand asks a member of the audience for a hug, only to then say "don't touch me, I'm a minor!".

There were some less amusing, and frankly annoying bits of the performance, but all in all, a good afternoon's entertainment. For me the highlight was the response of the many, many children in the audience. They all loved it and were laughing and engaging with the actors. It felt like there might be a future in theatre and Shakespeare, in particular, if this audience, and perfomance, is typical.