Monsters, sprites, humans, love and angst, sound like a delightful mix of intrigue and mystery. When in fact, you’re witnessing one of Shakespeare’s works of art, produced by Tom Dixon and Will Orton.
The Handlebards, a group of inspiring thespians who have made it their mission to bring environmentally friendly theatre on a journey to make it accessible for all.
The Tempest has a simple set (Ellie Light) which doubles up as different staging props when needed and the group use comedic and creative ways to adapt their scenes and surroundings. The set also has the main protagonist Prospero all over it symbolising his monopolisation of the island and all who inhabit.
The music and sound (Guy Hughes) within this production are beautiful and magical, also, a large portion of the music is live and hauntingly sang by the talented and sprighty Scott Brooks, who shows off his talents with a variety of instruments and mystical sounds.
Costumes (Abbie Sutcliffe) were easily interchangeable and effective for purpose, again some comedic elements were incorporated and either over exaggerated or portrayed with a slight creative twist.
The lighting (Charly Dunford) portrayed the emotions of the production as well as immersing the audience within the atmosphere and ambience of the staging and scenes. The Tempest cloud with its formidable size and contrasting lighting was an excellent centrepiece to the story.
Onto our 5 main stars, Prospero played by Lucy Green starts out as an egocentric and rather loathsome character and Green portrays this character’s journey with excellent facial and physical mannerisms to show the difficulty for such a character to make a complete 180 in their development by the end of the show.
Prospero could not be half the powerful ruler he sees himself to be without the mystical, loyal and magical soul of Ariel (Scott Brooks). Longing for freedom and trapped by loyalty, a wonderful character who remains on stage throughout overseeing and orchestrating this entire story.
Trapped under Prospero’s spell is the poor Caliban (Ross Foley) who throughout the story plays this character with such desperation and naievity that he has an almost impish quality to him and one who the audience can empathise with. Foley showed he is able to switch roles with ease, comedy and improvisation as he regularly flitted between contrasting roles within the same scene.
Princess Khumalo and Meredith Lewis also play a variety of characters throughout the story demonstrating their wide and diverse range of skills. Each character was easily recognisable and individual in their own right.
Nel Crouch has directed this production with precision and flair and with her very talented cast made Shakespeare an accessible performance that can inspire a new generation of thespians and theatre goers. Wonderful audience interaction and participation, especially at the beginning when the audience are conducted by Ariel to create atmospheric sounds of the Tempest without voice to begin the show.
A wonderfully evening had by all.
Reviewer: Steph Wiswall
Reviewed: 7th October 2025
North West End UK Rating: