TourCO, the traveling arm of St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, is taking The Tempest on the road and to a park near you. There will be 24 performances, including one-night-only shows at two dozen locations across the region. Catch one at your neighborhood park—or head for a park that you don’t usually visit.
The Tempest starts with a storm and a shipwreck and, like every comedy that William Shakespeare ever wrote, ends with romance. On the adventurous island romp between those two bookends, audiences meet monsters, spirits, presumed-dead sons, and sparring brothers—the isle is full of noises, as Caliban says.
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“The Tempest is such a magical play,” says Tom Ridgely, festival producing artistic director who is also directing this production. “The main character is a magician; there are all these supernatural events. The tempest itself is a supernatural event; the magician conjures it—you’re not even sure if it’s a real storm.”
With a production that’s in constant motion, it’s not practical to build the kind of intricate stages that you might associate with the early summer productions in Forest Park. While the production team has scouted and visited all of the locations, the actors arrive about an hour before showtime. The tightly controlled environment of a theater—temperature, lighting, sounds—is relinquished.
“It sort of perfectly recreates what theater is always trying to do, which is to create the illusion of the first time,” says Ridgely, “Every night is the first time we’re doing it in that park, the first and only time. It’s really special; it keeps it fresh and keeps it alive.”
A mobile production certainly keeps the energy fresh, but it creates real challenges for setting the scene. So TourCO is bringing in some support for the six actors in the cast: puppets, from little 18-inch-tall marionettes to the 12-foot-tall giants that you see in street theatre.
“That gives it a kind of spectacle that our tour hasn’t had before,” say Ridgely. “It’s a fun visual element. Puppets just seem like a childlike, imaginative way of telling a story.”
Ridgely says moving the play every night brings another benefit: The artists are moving around, which opens access and stokes neighborhood pride. “Now, not only are you going into a different environment every night, but you’re also bringing arts into communities in a way that you never get to,” he says. “It’s flipping the whole arrangement. We’re no longer inviting you into our space; we’re the guests, and you’re the hosts. We’re here at your invitation and thanks to your hospitality. It gives the work a different meaning.”
The Tempest is the last play that Shakespeare ever wrote. Ridgely says The Bard incorporated bits of storytelling magic from everything that came before, and viewers can expect high-seas adventure, romance, political intrigue, crimes and misdemeanors, comedy, tragedy, monsters, lovers, and more—including lines and characters you’ll recognize whether you’ve read the play or not.
“It’s just such a beautiful play,” he says.
TourCO’s The Tempest runs from July 30–August 25, with no show on Mondays. The free 90-minute shows begin at 6:30 p.m. Check website for locations.
