Tempest proves solid student effort

Any Shakespeare play performance has the potential to be very good or very bad. At first blush, it would seem that performances by trained Shakespearean actors would fall among the very good and performances by amateurs would fall among the very bad. DramaTech, with their production of The Tempest, however, proves that even student thespians can do justice to ol’ William’s work.

The Tempest was Shakespeare’s final play and it tells the layered story of Prospero (James Lentini), an ousted Italian noble; his daughter, Miranda (Aubrie Lee); Prospero’s usurpers and a handful of other characters. Prospero was the Duke of Milan until his jealous brother, Antonio (Mathew Drake), along with a group of confederates, banished him and his young daughter to a remote island where they lived for many years. The play opens as a ship is caught in the throes of a fierce storm. The passengers on the boat include Prospero’s brother, the King of Naples (Patrick Brandt), his son and several other individuals who are all implicated in the development of Prospero’s plan to regain his dukedom.

We soon discover that it was Prospero who caused the storm and the subsequent arrival of the ship’s passengers on his island. Furthermore, he possesses magical powers and considerable influence over the supernatural creatures on the island that have allowed him and his daughter to survive on the island for so many years. From there, we watch as the shipwrecked nobles trek across the island and become more and more affected by Prospero’s influence, as dispatched by Ariel (Martha Jaworski), a sprite whom he also controls.

Humor is a key element of this piece, with interspersed scenes featuring the drunken Trinculo (Will Wright) and Stephano (Jordan Bethea), as well as the occasional sexual innuendos common in many of Shakespeare’s plays.

The strength of the cast’s performance varied among the respective cast members, with some more capable than others of delivering the elaborate and complicated dialogue that is characteristic of Shakespeare. The production got off to a somewhat shaky start in the cast’s ability to suspend belief among the audience members. But as the show continued, the actors seemed to become more comfortable in their roles, allowing the story to move along smoothly and coherently.

The biggest complaint that I have about this particular performance is that some of the actors could not quite shed their 21st-century speaking mannerisms or affect any sort of speaking timbre that might be more appropriate to the setting and time period.

While this can probably be attributed to the cast having only a limited amount of time to spend perfecting their roles, it is somewhat detrimental to maintaining the suspension of belief that is the goal of any good production.

The costuming for this production is probably one of its strongest assets. The wardrobe for every character was very well done and the selections that were made for each complimented the personality of the character as well as the appearance of the actor.

It can also be argued that the very simple and bare bone setup of the DramaTech theatre proved to be fitting for the play. While elaborately constructed and painted sets may be the norm for such productions, the use of blocking and lighting in lieu of something more complex was refreshing and allowed the focus to remain on the story and the actors themselves. DramaTech’s production advantageously played up the group’s strengths while minimizing its weaknesses.

Two more chances remain to see DramaTech’s performance of The Tempest, both tonight and tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in the Dean Dull Theater, located behind the Ferst Center. Tickets are $5 for students, $8 for faculty and staff and $10 for the general public.