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THE TEMPEST By William Shakespeare
The magician Prospero is marooned on an island with his daughter Miranda. With the assistance of a powerful air spirit he keeps in servitude, he conjures up a storm to shipwreck his enemies on the shore of the island. Inexorably they are driven towards the centre of the island to answer to Prospero – until Prospero learns that in spite of everything Miranda has met and fallen in love with Ferdinand, the son of his enemy. Which is greater – his thirst for revenge or his aptitude for forgiveness?
In their 28th open-air touring season, and renowned all over the world for their clarity, quality and ingenuity, Illyria return to their home-turf: Shakespearean comedy. The play, believed to be the last that Shakespeare wrote single-handedly, is lyrical, thought-provoking and raucously funny. More than 400 years after it was written it still has the capacity to surprise!
Illyria is an intrepid band of five actors who perform Shakespeare’s plays, entirely uncut, direct from the First Folio, the most authoritative edition of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s swift, it’s polished and it’s spoken beautifully (uniquely among open-air touring theatre companies Illyria’s artistic director has published articles on verse-speaking) – and scholars on both sides of the Atlantic agree that Illyria’s performance style is the most authentically Elizabethan to be seen. Since 1992 they have performed on what feels like every patch of grass from Land’s End to John O-Groats – and also in Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, USA and Canada. They are the only UK open-air touring company to have won no less than 4 international awards, and have a well-deserved reputation for being, quite simply, the best.
Please do bring your own setting in the form of garden or camping chairs or a picnic rug and of course your own picnic. If the weather looks to be inclement, warm or waterproof jackets are a must!
