Review | Peter Brook’s Tempest Project gives Shakespeare’s The Tempest new life by paring it down for Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord production
- The swansong of theatre director Peter Brook, the Tempest Project is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest that leaves out several scenes and characters
- The casual treatment of the play by the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord’s international cast in a Hong Kong Arts Festival show made it feel like a work in progress
Peter Brook’s swansong, the “Tempest Project” is less a culmination of a life’s work than a quiet, discreet farewell. In fact, those expecting an apotheosis, or a definitive interpretation, might be surprised by the casual, open-ended treatment of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
In typical fashion, Brook and his long-time collaborator Marie-Hélène Estienne injected new life into the play by paring it down.
Whole sections are left out, while others – the wedding between Miranda and Ferdinando, for example – are downplayed. The cast is reduced to six (portraying seven characters: the protean French actor Sylvain Levitte plays both Caliban and Ferdinand in Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord’s production).
The skeletal presentation means that the magical world in Shakespeare’s play is materialised through the characters and the way they imagine, marvel – and fear.
The island where Prospero is exiled to is evoked not through elaborate sets or special effects, but a thriftily appointed stage. We see stump seats, a bench, fire logs, some old rugs, and bunches of scrap wood scattered around the unadorned floor.
