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‘The Tempest’ at the Phoenix Theatre: An unsatisfying take on a tough Shakespeare work

Director Seth Reich takes an approach that vacillates between reductive traditionalism and misguided modernization.

(Left to right) Michael Hajek, Jessica Myhr, and Amanda Clark in "The Tempest" through July 21 at the Phoenix Theatre in Chester Springs.
(Left to right) Michael Hajek, Jessica Myhr, and Amanda Clark in "The Tempest" through July 21 at the Phoenix Theatre in Chester Springs.Read moreWide Eyed Studios

You can’t buy timing like this: As the opening-night audience waited for Phoenix Theatre’s inaugural production of The Tempest to begin, a series of thunderclaps erupted in the distance. The bellowing sound anticipated the titular storm summoned by Prospero that sets in motion the events of Shakespeare’s last great play.

Would that anything else in this staging — which continues through July 21 at SALT Performing Arts in Chester Springs — provoked the kind of spontaneous excitement triggered by the unpredictable elements.

The Tempest is a tough one to get right in terms of tone, as it shifts between grave questions of mortality, power and legacy and extended scenes of ribaldry. Shakespeare also takes his audience deep into the spirit world, as he did in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth — yet unlike those precursors, it remains questionable whether the realm of the fairies exists for playful mischief or serious mayhem. And where do you even start with Caliban, the “demi-devil” who has confounded artists and intellectuals for centuries?

A successful assumption requires a firm and unifying vision to wrangle these disparate components together. Unsatisfying Shakespeare outings remind the audience that even the most brilliant playwright of all time was not immune to dead weight. Yet Phoenix cofounder Seth Reich, in the director’s chair for this maiden voyage, takes an approach that vacillates between reductive traditionalism and misguided modernization.

The company clearly has limited resources — Stephan Moravski’s set design consists of exactly two jagged pillars, and Lily Prentice’s costumes look as if they were pilfered from the actors’ closets — but necessity doesn’t prove the mother of invention. For a play that spends so much time in the ether, matters remain firmly earthbound.

More distressing than the lack of transporting visuals is the dearth of connection between the characters. Infusing relationships with backstory costs no money, and it’s necessary for a play that hinges on family betrayal and redemption.

Michael Hajek remains an under-powered Prospero throughout, lacking an appropriate fatherly bond to his daughter Miranda (Amanda Clark) or understandable rage toward his sibling Antonia (Trina Tjersland), who usurped his dukedom and exiled him.

Despite changing the sex of this character (originally Antonio) and several others, the production does little to mine gender politics, or the differing dynamics in a brother-sister relationship. Nor does it solve the Caliban problem — in the role, Lydia Joy Carswell wanders the stage like an afterthought. The scenes of extended buffoonery in which Caliban and the drunken Trinculo and Stephano (Marcus Barainyak and Lorenzo Landini) plot to overthrow Prospero have rarely seemed so tiresome.

The strangest conception is that of Ariel (Jessica Myhr). Fitted with a flowing white wig and gaudy gold jewelry, she resembles a cross between Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel and Cher. This Ariel is attended, for no discernible reason, by a train of “spirits,” who seem more like backup dancers. When Ariel casts a spell, the soundtrack blares unpleasant club music.

The supernumeraries are members of a youth company who receive training through the theater. So, too, are Clark and Ryan Cassidy, the dashing Prince Ferdinand, both charming and natural in their characterizations. Even if this barely qualifies as a Tempest in a teapot, I’m glad it introduces these rising talents to the local scene.

The Tempest. Through July 21 at Phoenix Theatre. SALT Performing Arts, 1645 Art School Road, Chester Springs. Tickets: $17-25 (under 18, free). Information: thephoenixtheatrepa.com (no business phone).