Theater Review: "The Tempest" By Elm Shakespeare Company

Review by Nancy Sasso Janis

NEW HAVEN - After a two year absence, Elm Shakespeare Company has returned with their free outdoor performances in New Haven’s Edgerton Park. This year the company is presenting a beautiful production of “The Tempest” and donations are appreciated.

Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is a late romance with both tragic and comic themes. It opens with scenes set on a ship at sea during a tempest, and the rest of the story is set on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit.

The production is directed by Producing Artistic Director Rebecca Goodheart and easily includes the music composed by Samantha Wolf (MM '21, MMA '22, Composition Yale School of Music,) the sound designer for the production, and dance choreographed by Jessica Natalie Smith.

Equity actor and Trinidad native L. Peter Callender brings Prospero, the former duke of Milan and master of magical arts, to life with a fine stage presence. Tyler Cruz, a rising fourth year actor at the School of Drama at Yale, plays the lovely Miranda, Prospero’s daughter.

Equity member Sarah Bowles, the company’s Director of Education and an adjunct professor at Southern Connecticut State University, plays Ariel, a spirit of the air in the guise of a Harpy who serves Prospero.

Caliban, the son of the Witch Sycorax, is portrayed as a monster by Benjamin Curns, another Equity artist who is based in West Haven.

Equity’s Cynthia DeCure, a bilingual actor and dialect coach, is very strong in the role of Alonsa (usually Alonso,) Queen of Naples. She delivers a few of her lines in Spanish and I found it to be most effective. The queen’s brother Sebastian is brought to life in the strong performance by Equity member Gracy Brown, in her ninth season with Elm Shakespeare.

It was great to see the Equity actor Mauricio Miranda, who just played Benedick in Capital Classics “Much Ado About Nothing,” in another Shakespeare role. Here the UConn MFA holder who was born and raised in Lima, Peru, plays well the role of Ferdinand, the young Prince of Naples.

Equity actor Manu Kumasi (“Comedy of Errors” with Elm) makes his mark as Antonio, Prospero’s brother and current Duke of Milan. Equity’s Lisa Wolpe portrays Gonzala (usually as Gonzalo,) an honest old councillor to Alonso and a friend of Prospero, and Equity member Larry Williams portrays Adrian, a courtier in attendance to Alonsa.

Bringing out the comedy are Equity members Jeff Raab as Trinculo, a clown serving Alonsa and Jeff Innerst (in his first season with Elm) as Stephano, her drunken butler.

Elm ‘Scholar’ Intern Oliver Barber plays the Shipmaster and Cedric Westcott, an acting apprentice from Central Connecticut State University, is the Boatswain. Aleeki Shortridge, Jane Leamon, Barber and Westcott get to play Sprites of the Island who serve Prospero in various shapes.

The look of this production is at times very striking, especially as Prospero explains how he came to the island. The set design by Karen Root makes the most of the solidly constructed playhouse designed by Izmir Ickbal. It transforms into a boat for the first scene with the help of wonderful lighting designed to work outdoors by Jamie Burnett. Rebecca Welles designed the excellent costumes. Ariel is dressed in black and white, with wonderful make up and feathers that evoke an ethereal bird. Tinculo’s striped pants worked even up to the back of the outdoor space, as did Caliban’s look.

There is a helpful synopsis of the play in the virtual program. There were just a few line difficulties on opening night, understandable when it comes to Shakespeare.

"What's past is prologue" There is a musical pre show that begins at 7:30 p.m., with water-themed songs, with music direction by Benjamin Curns and featured musicians Josh Inners and Jeff Raab. The performance begins at 8:00 p.m. Your voluntary donations support the professional Free Shakespeare performances and the magic of live theater, with suggestions of $25 for adults, $10 for students and $5 for children. “The Tempest” runs at the lovely Edgerton Park in New Haven through Sept. 4, with no performances on Mondays. If one wears clothing that covers most of the skin and a facemask, and/or bug spray and a citronella candle, bug bites should be avoided.

Elm Shakespeare Company is in residence at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and the production benefactor is Gateway Community College. “Shakespeare by the Sea,” the 2022 Gala and Auction is scheduled for Sept. 14 and the auction opens early.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues. She posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. She recently became a contributor to the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column and theatre reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the paper.

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