The Tempest

Ooh, I've had a lovely day.

We went on the backstage tour at Bard on the Beach and this was quite splendid. We got to meet all kinds of fascinating people and see what they did and how they did it.

Apparently you should never use Febreze for example, but rather vodka. Voddie will take the smell out of anything stinky, just make sure you only buy the cheap stuff and label it 'poison' and that still won't work because it will still mysteriously disappear.

We mosied down for lunch at a lovely café near to Vanier Park and then came back for The Tempest.

Oh. My. God. There are insufficient superlatives for this. Well, maybe not, but I have insufficient. It was mesmerising. It was spellbinding.
There were no weak links. The director, Meg Roe had a clear vision of the whole play and that vision was brilliantly interpreted.
The music was perfect.
The costumes were enchanting.
The set was ingenious.
For me, the star was Jennifer Lines who played Ariel, or...she was Ariel and next most stellar were Naomi Wright and Colleen Wheeler who played Trincula and Stephana, an incredible double act and a stroke of absolute genius from director Meg Roe to have women playing these parts because it increased the tension and humour by adding a sexual dimension between them and Caliban.

The opening scene where Prospero calls up a tempest and thence the shipwreck, was an example of every element of live theatre perfectly choreographed. The boat was a rope that all the actors pulled this way and that, tossed and pitched at sea and then as one, all went into slowmo.

The play was a marvel.
It will stay with me.