More a squall than a Tempest

THIS year's annual Shakespeare in the Park is, unfortunately, the weakest this reviewer has seen. Seldom have Shakespearean characters with so much magical powers appear so charmless and unmysterious.

Did Prospero the magician break his staff and hurl it into the sea even before the play began? How could Ariel, his mischievous shape-shifting sprite, be so bland? And what of the wan romance between Miranda and Ferdinand?

The Tempest, written 400 years ago, was one of Shakespeare's last plays. It brims with magical sequences as it takes place on an enchanted island ruled by Prospero, a former duke turned magician. But this prod…