Nadi Kemp-Sayfi and Ferdy Roberts in The Tempest at Shakespeare’s Globe
(Picture: Marc Brenner)In what must surely be a first, Ferdy Roberts, as Shakespeare’s marooned wizard Prospero, spends most of this lucid, playful production wearing just loafers and bright yellow budgie-smuggler swimming trunks. The sartorial Love Island vibe also affects his daughter Miranda, who sports a frilly, Barbie-pink two-piece on a series of beach inflatables. Given the current weather, the other actors – playing noblemen in business suits and spirits in rhinestone cowgirl outfits or flowery jumpsuits – must be jealous.
Though stylised throughout, Sean Holmes’s staging presents the narrative as clearly as I’ve ever seen it: this is very much the island love story of Miranda and Ferdinand, as well as a rollicking comedy and a tale of revenge.
