Tempest for you in Boston?

[ellenkushner]

Delia & I were in Boston last weekend for a wedding, and I grabbed the only chance we had to see the Actors' Shakespeare Project's new production of The Tempest, with the great 83-year old actor Alvin Epstein as Prospero; we saw their Lear with Epstein a few years ago, and it was stunning, and I was all agog to see what he would do with Shakespeare's other "I am old, here goes..." play - directed, btw, by Patrick Swanson, who also does the Revels*. I've never seen a bad production from them, so keep an eye on this group!

deliasherman has beat me to the online review, so go read hers - I'll just add that, since I'm always recommending things in NYC, here's a chance for New Englanders to catch some interesting theater. I won't say it was utterly perfect - but then, it was still in previews; and I don't really think Tempest is all that great a play - it plays like he wrote it under deadline for an event he wasn't really interested in (some hotshot's wedding), but he thought, "Oh, well, let me throw some cool things in here - like a meditation on power - while I'm at it anyway...." I will say that I have never seen such drunken Trinculo, or laughed so hard at his antics - and I've seen a few! The stagecraft is exquisite. Miranda is great - the first I've ever seen who's not a drip! And Alvin Epstein . . . well, his entrance made me gasp in awe and wonder (and delight). It's a beautiful Prospero. Don't miss this one, if you can('t). They don't come along all that often. It runs through April 13th.

*To the vexing question of the Big Hymeneal Masque of Juno et al, he offered a clever answer: they played it (on the upper balcony) with clown noses, in a style much like the Rude Mechanicals in Midsummer. I wish, krismcd59, you coulda seen it. It was pretty funny!