By| gan William Shakespeare

The magician Prospero is marooned on an island with his daughter Miranda. With the assistance of a powerful air spirit he keeps in servitude, he conjures up a storm to shipwreck his enemies on the shore of the island. Inexorably they are driven towards the centre of the island to answer to Prospero – until Prospero learns that in spite of everything Miranda has met and fallen in love with Ferdinand, the son of his enemy. Which is greater – his thirst for revenge or his aptitude for forgiveness?

The play, believed to be the last that Shakespeare wrote single-handedly, is lyrical, thought-provoking and raucously funny. More than 400 years after it was written it still has the capacity to surprise! It’s swift, it’s polished and it’s spoken beautifully (scholars on both sides of the Atlantic agree that Illyria’s performance style is the most authentically Elizabethan to be seen).

Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes (including a 20 minute interval).

£15 (£13) (£10 child)