‘Be not afraid. This isle is full of noises’. This quote from The Tempest could not ring more true with this performance, full of guitar noise, voices and earthy sounds. Beginning where Shakespeare’s text left off, Prospero’s ship is sailing away to Naples leaving Ariel and Caliban alone on the island. This piece discovers what it is like to be a slave with no master, to be free and to try and co-exist with each other.
The performance began with Neil Johnson, a casual barefooted narrator, introducing us to the piece as if we were old friends. Neil quickly changed roles and became our musician for the night and we were treated to an intimate rendition of Ariel’s song and lulled into the performance with his husky voice and acoustic guitar.
The set surrounding our modern Jacobean musician was very much focused on the bright green playing space in the middle with the outer area displaying all the workings of the show. The sound board, computer and guitars were on display and smoke machines, fans and wires to fly the performers were all left visible, possibly to remind us they are ‘such stuff as dreams are made on’. 
Jessica Hoffman certainly knows how to make an entrance as a punk arch-angel interpretation of Ariel. Arriving as a rock star, standing atop of the speakers, back lit and accompanied by a smoke machine. Her relationship with Caliban, a wooky - caveman with jeans was so intriguing. Pinching and splashing each other like children one moment, yet speaking of the world like philosophers, the next it was a joy to feel their history together and watch them discover their island without a master. Caliban played by Richard Dufty decides to fully embrace his new found freedom by throwing Shakespearian insults, direct from The Tempest, at members of the audience; creating a mosh pit of words, culminating in a gig, fuelled with electric guitar noise and strobe lighting.
Towards the end of the piece Ariel and Caliban’s relationship took on a deeper meaning and Ariel suggested they work together to create something wonderful, and they do indeed. They construct their own universe, a solar system of rocks and branches, suspended in their new utopia. As the performance comes to a close Dufty and Hoffmann join the audience to look at their creation while reciting a variation of Gonzalo’s speech from The Tempest. There will be no riches, poverty, weapons or crime; what a wonderful place to live. A new political party may have just been established and I for one will definitely be voting Ariel and Caliban, a great experience all round.
Reviewed on: 26th November 2015
Reviewed by: Charlotte Green
