By: Mike Pukay

Shakespeare himself once said that Life is a tale “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”, a statement that can certainly be applied to Julie Taymor’s most recent foray into the bard’s cannon, The Tempest.  Shakespeare is not unfamiliar territory to Taymor, who brought Titus Andronicus to life with Anthony Hopkins in Titus, and has mounted The Tempest on the stage several times before.  This time, Taymor has decided to cast the principal role of Prospero as a female warlock named Prospera, betrayed and banished from the court of Naples by her own brother to a deserted island to raise her niece Miranda alone.

There are only several grand dames capable of tackling such a challenging role and Helen Mirren (The Queen) is an exceptional choice to play the role of Prospera, portraying the witch as dominant and powerful, yet still somewhat vulnerable to the social mores of her epoch, where women branded as witches could and would be burned alive.  Prospera becomes a sort of jilted single mother hell-bent upon delivering retribution to those who have crossed her.

Despite the potential to scrutinize the themes of Shakespeare’s final play through the lens of a feminist protagonist, Taymor never really capitalizes on the opportunity.  In a recent interview when Taymor was asked whether she feels any connection with the feminized version of Prospero, she dismissively replied, “If you’re a man directing Prospero, no one would ever ask that”, and once again missed an opportunity to explore the role of gender, and perhaps provide a new insight, with a familiar 400-year-old script.

One of the harder aspects to get past was the casting of Russell Brand in the role of Trinculo.  Sure he’s playing the comic relief (and is a hilarious stand-up comedian), but he wears the exact same hat one would expect to see in Get him to the Greek as some velvet-underground androgynous Brit-rock star.  I’m fairly sure he was brought in for mass-appeal, but his inclusion in this production does nothing for the story and simply serves as a distraction.  Even his costume seems out of place next to the rest of the castaway’s period costumes and only serves to alienate him from the fabric of this story.

From a technical perspective, this show tries to employ some ambitious special effects, creating psychedelic animations that harkens back to the nautical and astrological diagrams of the Elizabethan era.  Ariel (Ben Whishaw) is depicted as omnipresent using cinematic techniques similar to those used during the silent film era, but with a modern twist, and looks spectacular as one of the highlights of the production.  It all feels like Taymor is trying to spice up Shakespeare for the MTV generation the way Baz Luhrmen did with the visually stunning Romeo + Juliet, without the same efficacy of execution.