The Tempest has always bothered me. It is lazily described as Shakespeare's 'late masterpiece' but I've never really got it. I studied it for A level and my version of events has always been that it was badly taught, unlike our other Shakespeare text Hamlet which the great J.G. Smith made sing. I'm still sort of sticking to this self-exculpatory version of personal ancient history but I do now have to admit that the play has more to offer than I have been willing to admit.
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| Colin Morgan as Ariel |
What has provoked this Damascene conversion? Well, it's the cultural offering on iPlayer that's what. I was beguiled by the recent transmission of the 2013 Globe production. Roger Allam (Peter Mannion to all Thick of It fans and, let's face it, that should be all of us) is a brilliant Prospero and there has to special praise for Colin Morgan's balletic Ariel. Brave new world indeed.
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