She sits alone at the front of the stage gazing out into the vast auditorium as the tempest she has conjured rages around her. Sigourney Weaver’s Prospero is a calm, focused presence in the eye of an elemental storm.
It’s a bold opening statement in Jamie Lloyd’s highly anticipated production and it rarely falters throughout. Marooned on a remote island with her daughter Miranda (Mara Huf) by her usurping brother, the former Duchess of Milan is now taking her revenge by bringing the malefactors under her mystical control by wrecking their ship on her desolate island, uninhabited apart from the monstrous Caliban (Forbes Mssson) and the airy spirit Ariel (Mason Alexander Park) who descends from above to do his mistress’s bidding.
Lloyd’s vision is spectacular but spare; there are no fancy videos or techno clutter to distract from the performances or the story. But the sense of isolation and infinite space conveys a timelessness that is almost overwhelming.
Soutra Gilmour’s design is simple but epic as banks of white lights flash in blinding rhythm and enormous swathes of diaphanous material sweep across the stage. Weaver is a supremely confident presence, dressed in grey and white and delivering Prosero’s great speeches with a clarity of diction that is characteristic of the entire production.
All the magic and enchantment emanates from Ariel and the non-binary Parks’ astonishing performance complements Weaver’s cool precision perfectly. Part Lady GaGa/part Peter Pan, their vocal range invests Ariel’s songs with an unprecedented beauty.
Although Masson’s Caliban is a grotesque parody of a WWF wrestler squeezed into leather shorts, he is the only truly innocent being on stage. The one miscalculation is Huf’s Valley Girl Miranda who appears to have lost her skateboard on the way to the theatre.
The parade of goddesses have been left on the cutting room floor but otherwise this is a triumph of concept and execution and Weaver is a worthy successor to females playing male roles in Shakespeare – from Sarah Bernhardt and Asta Nielsen playing Hamlet to Glenda Jackson and Kathryn Hunter playing King Lear.
Shedding her most celebrated role as Lt. Ellen Ripley in the Alien movies, Weaver rises to the challenge of Shakespeare’s most autobiographical character. It’s a haunting, magnificent production that I will remember for a very long time.
Until February 1 Tickets: 020 3925 2998