<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16633">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"
align=center><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><EM><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; FONT-STYLE: normal; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; COLOR: #1a1a1a; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">High
concept seems low-budget in Great Lakes’ ‘The Tempest’ </SPAN></B></EM><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="COLOR: #1a1a1a"><?xml:namespace
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Cleveland Jewish
News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Like the storm
at sea that kick-starts “The Tempest,” the entire play – believed to be one of
Shakespeare’s last – is a turbulent and temperamental force of nature.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The play is an
assemblage of cross currents that toss together tragedy and comedy, generate
winds that blow warm with romance and cold with revenge, and provide a
torrential downpour of mysticism, spectacle and the potential for imaginative
stage craft.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If not one of
Shakespeare’s most popular works, it is certainly one of his most
intriguing.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1a1a1a"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">It begins with
Alonso, the King of Naples (Dougfred Miller), his son Ferdinand (Patrick Riley),
Antonio, the Duke of Milan (Jonathan Dyrud), and others (Aled Davies, Nick
Steen, M.A. Taylor) being shipwrecked on a mystical island due to a storm
created by the magician Prospero (David Anthony Smith) and his ethereal,
indigenous spirit-servant, Ariel (Ryan David O’Byrne).
<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1a1a1a"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1a1a1a"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Twelve years
ago, the sometimes cruel, often controlling but still compassionate and paternal
Prospero was, himself, marooned on the island with his young daughter Miranda
(Katie Willmorth) when he was deposed by the same Antonio now trapped on the
island, who is his brother.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Prospero manipulates the movements and haunts the dreams of the
castaways, but he cannot control the love that sparks when Ferdinand and Miranda
set eyes on one another. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1a1a1a"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1a1a1a"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, two
other survivors – the ship’s cook, Trinculo (Dustin Tucker), and a butler,
Stephano (Tom Ford) – form an alliance with a less-than-human native named
Caliban (J. Todd Adams) and plot to take over and rule the island.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That they are thoroughly inebriated from
the shipment of wine that washed ashore makes all their plotting and posturing
the primary source of comedy in the play.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1a1a1a"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #1a1a1a; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
conceptualization of the island on which all this unfolds – where the worlds of
the native inhabits, the Europeans in exile, and the shipwrecked courtiers and
crew collide and where the realms of magic and mankind intersect – is fraught
with creative possibilities and theatrical risk-taking.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But while past Great Lakes Theater
efforts to bring Shakespeare’s worlds to life have soared – including previous
productions of “The Tempest” – this version, under Drew Barr’s direction,
stumbles.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #1a1a1a; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"></SPAN></SPAN> </P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #1a1a1a; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: #111111"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">For more of this review, go to:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT><A href=""><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3
face="Times New Roman">http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>