Review: THE TEMPEST Astonishes with Quality

The Shakespeare Festival at Notre Dame will soon be wrapping up, but you still have the chance to watch The Tempest which plays through August 28th. Let me say that if you have ever had any doubts about whether or not you would enjoy Shakespeare's work, or have not enjoyed it in the past (as I have not), make no mistake that this production of The Tempest is like no other. The amazing production quality alone should entice you to see this visual masterpiece, however, the acting is also equally astonishing.

I can only imagine the sheer amount of hard work that had to go into making and designing all of the theatrical aspects of this show. There is no stone left unturned in creating this (quite literally) magical world. While I do not want to give too much away, as a lot of the amazing special effects that happen on stage surprise and wow the audience when they happen, I will leave you with this: there is part of a massive boat just sitting on stage and an actor spends most of her time doing aerial tricks. All of that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Shakespeare can be a mouthful, and hard to understand/pay attention to if you are not passionate about his writing. A lot of the time, Shakespeare isn't enjoyable if you don't have actors who can perform the sophisticated writing well. That is not the case with The Tempest. The show is chock full of amazingly talented actors, both union and non-union, who really do Shakespeare's writing justice. I found that there were very seldom parts where I was lost or didn't know what was going on, because all of the actors took Shakespeare's words to heart and were not just reciting, but well, acting. The actor who really stood out for me as just being overall tremendously gifted was Nick Sandy's, who played Prospero. Sandy's really set the tone for the entire show as his powerful performance completely matched Prospero's powerful character. Sandy's commanding presence was undeniable and there is no doubt in my mind why he was cast as the almighty Prospero. It will be hard to watch a different production of The Tempest and not have Sandy's interpretation on my mind.

All in all, no matter your feelings on Shakespeare, go see The Tempest at Notre Dame. It is a tremendous show both in production quality and the talent casted. There is singing, dancing, acting, aerialists, and some very cool tricks of the theatre - there is something for everyone to enjoy.

You can catch the rest of the showings of The Tempest below:

Tuesday, August 23 at 7:30pm
Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30pm
Thursday, August 25 at 7:30pm
Friday, August 26 at 7:30pm
Saturday, August 27 at 2pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, August 28 at 2pm

Photo Credit: Kaity Fuja