The Tempest

Act I scene ii - Prospero calls forth his spirit, Ariel.

No it's not a promotional shot, I took this photo (with my camera phone) during a live performance of Shakespeare's "The Tempest", yes that IS the Forth bridges in the background.

There is all sorts of shows on at The Fringe and there is usually a number of Shakespeare plays being done by different companies, sometimes they are contemporary, sometimes they are classic but they are usually played in a small theatre space with fairly basic sets. So how do you get a great set for "The Tempest" (set on an island after a ship is wrecked after "The Tempest")? The answer one company came up with ("Hands in the Air in association with Mermaids and the Demarco European Arts Foundation") is to enact the play on the shores of The Firth of Forth, the show was appropriately called "The Tempest in the Firth of Forth".

After arriving at Summerhall in Edinburgh we were taken on a bus to Dalmeny Estate where we disembarked at the gates of Hopetoun House aka "Milan" for the prologue where we witnessed Prospero being thrown out of Milan, our guides then took us into the woods where we witness the shipwreck. We were then guided down onto the shores of The Forth where the rest of the play was acted out, our guides directing us to different areas of the beach for each act.

It was a fabulous experience, the scene changes were really well done with characters walking or running off down the beach and disappearing around a corner out of sight as other characters would appear in the distance and approach the audience. The use of the rocks, stones, seaweed and driftwood on the beach made the whole thing more "realistic". The sounds of the waves lapping on the shore and sea-gulls squawking in the distance added to the atmosphere. I'm no expert but from my point of view the acting was excellent.

Considering this is Edinburgh I can imagine that this was a risky venture, the weather could easily have been a lot worse, I can't imagine this would have worked as well if it had been a cold windy day and it would have been a disaster if it had been torrential rain, luckily it was a calm day, not much sun but not cold.

I'm not really a Shakespeare fan, but it's the Fringe and I like to see a whole range of shows (lets face it I'm not likely to go to Shakespeare play outside of the Fringe) I'm so glad I took the chance on this show, it was great.