The Tempest
At
Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company
(Steppenwolf Theatre Co. Website)

1650 North Halsted Street
Chicago, Illinois 60614
312.335.1650

By
William Shakespeare
(Shakespeare Bio)

March 26 to May 31, 2009

Martha Lavey: Artistic Director
David Hawkanson: Executive Director

Featuring:
Alana Arenas, Eric James Casady, Miles Fletcher,
K. Todd Freeman, Frank Galati, Stephen Louis Grush,
Jon Michael Hill, Tim Hopper, James Vincent Meredith,
Yasen Peyankov, Emma Rosenthal, Lois Smith,
Craig Spidle, Alan Wilder

Director: Tina Landau
Scenic Design: Takeshi Kata
Costume Design: James Schuette
Lighting Design: Jane Cox
Original Music and Sound Design: Josh Schmidt
Projection Designer: Stephan Mazurek
Aerial Choreographer: Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi
Text and Verse Consultant: Rob Clare
Stage Manager: Malcolm Ewen
Assistant Stage Manager: Christine D. Freeburg
Communications Director: David Rosenberg

Susan Weinrebe
May 6, 2009

In its maiden voyage into staging Shakespeare, Steppenwolf Theatre has you from the word “storm.” The Tempest is a thin tale revolving around the machinations and magic of the island-marooned usurped Duke of Milan, Prospero. As luck and Shakespearean plotting have it, his perfidious brother, another king, his marriageable son, courtiers, clowns and assorted seafarers are all storm-tossed upon the very island where Prospero and his daughter Miranda have survived for the past twelve years.

The rough edges of living far removed from civilization are buffered by the ministrations of Prospero’s crew of two. One is the demi-human Caliban, enslaved, shackled and allotted the dirty work that is anything laborious and earthy. The other is the airy sprite (aptly named Ariel), who is in bonded servitude to Prospero. Prospero commands these few minions; antics ensue, reconciliation is effected, position is restored, manumission granted, love reigns, and all ends well.

The power of Steppenwolf’s production is not the plot; elements of which worked successfully for Shakespeare (and others) have been used over and over. Nor is it the characters, not multi-layered and complex or even passion driven. Rather, the magic of this Tempest comes from the staging, costuming, and bravura performances of several actors.

The play begins in lightening-struck darkness with a crack of thunder that bounced me out of my seat with the surprise of its sudden loudness. Simulating a storm-wracked ship, acrobatic cast members climbed ropes (as though manning the ship’s lines), canted against the angle of a supposedly heaving deck, and dangled above the seats from a ladder, bridging the “wall” between themselves and the audience. Many such moments were the stuff of Takeshi Kata and Jane Cox’s craft in taking us away from ourselves.

James Schuette’s costumes sported intriguing color and design and subtly (or not) explored the clothing as a medium to further express themes. Prospero’s rumpled linen coat and trousers dangled hints of island flotsam, shells, and such, and the lining of his coat revealed the sort of silk map that WWII pilots used to carry, in case they were shot down – or marooned. Courtiers, dressed in reinterpreted shades of royal “purple,” were garbed in suits that resembled Saddlebred riding habits gone gaga, in shades of cerise, fuchsia, and plum. Ariel, in his football-player satiny britches and boxing ring shoes, appropriate for the athleticism of his part, looked unlike the usually imagined fey image of the airy sprite. His minions and goddesses pushed the edge of the “bondage” references when they appeared, both male and female, in poufy skirts, red patent leather headgear, and strapped chests.

Lois Smith played the usually male part of the councilor with the garrulousness of a caring auntie, and the tone seemed a good fit with her gender. K. Todd Freeman, as Caliban, the creature of the earth, visually embellished his menace with black nail polish and apparently a set of filed teeth, and, oh yes, the bondage of chains tethering him to the ground. The allusions to a beast, living among the roots and duff of the forest, emerging from his hole in the ground when summoned, contrasted as meant to do, with the lightness of being that Ariel brought to the stage.

Climbing, swinging, dancing, playing the DJ from a high perch, barely containing the energy of the character and characterization, Jon Michael Hill seemed almost to have an energy field surrounding him. He was riveting, charming, and an eye magnet.

Then there were the clowns. Wearing an outlandish mixture of stripes and plaid, pork pie hat, geeky glasses and prom shirt, Tim Hopper’s Trinculo sustained the comedic rhythm of his goofy jesterish part. His athleticism matched the mastery of Yasen Peyankov’s drunken Stephano. Looking like the ruined version of a Gloucester fisherman, Peyankov made the audience howl with laughter, his inebriated philosophical discourses and machinations a set up for a head-to-tail, topsy turvy tumbling stunt with Trinculo.

As ever, the Steppenwolf Theatre revels in the unexpected. If this foray into The Tempest is a hint of more Shakespeare to come, then bring on the Bard!

Frank Galati (center) and the cast of "The Tempest"
Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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Lois Smith,James Vincent Meredith, Alan Wilder
with Craig Spidle in "The Tempest"
Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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Frank Galati and Jon Michael Hill
in "The Tempest"
Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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K. Todd Freeman, Yasen Peyankov,
and Tim Hopper in "The Tempest"
Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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K. Todd Freeman in "The Tempest"
Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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For more information, contact Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower at zlokower@bestweb.net