Holders Season Barbados
Performed "The Caribbean Tempest"
at The Royal Botanic Gardens
In Syndey, Australia.

Friday 14 January - Friday 21 April, 2000

Australia came alive with Caribbean rhythms during The Caribbean Tempest's three month run at The Royal Botanic Gardens. The rhythms, exotic costumes, exuberance, and colour of a calypso carnival under the stars opened on Friday, January 14th and concluded on Friday, April 21st.

Straight from a sell out season at the Edinburgh Festival, this timeless masterpiece presented spectacular acrobats, stilt walkers and musicians, yet still boasts traditional Shakespearian language - appealing to all audiences whether Shakespeare purists or those who have never seen one of his plays before.

Starring some of Australia's finest talents including Bill Hunter (Muriel's Wedding; Priscilla - Queen of the Desert; Strictly Ballroom) as 'Prospero'; Neighbours star Brooke Satchwell as 'Miranda' and Alex Dimitriades (Head On; Heartbreak High), The 'Caribbean' Tempest celebrated the power of love to heal the wounds of the past.

The audience joined the characters of The 'Caribbean' Tempest in a journey where passion and love challenged the darker side of human nature in themes of sorcery, colonialism and slavery on an enchanted island of voodoo magic, towering jumbee birds and firebreathing baku spirits. However, as forgiveness conquers all, the love story of Ferdinand and Miranda erupted in a splendid celebration of true love.

This exciting event was brought to Sydney by the renowned Holders Season, the premiere performing arts festival in the West Indies. Organised by John and Wendy Kidd, the Festival attracts some of the worlds greatest performers including Pavarotti, Lesley Garratt and Tim Rice. The 'Caribbean' Tempest was first staged for the Holders Season Barbados in March 1999 starring Kylie Minogue as 'Miranda', before travelling to Edinburgh and Sydney.

The 'Caribbean' Tempest synergises Shakespeare's beautiful poetry with the music of the Caribbean: steel drums, calypso, reggae, gospel and soul, making an intoxicating combination.

As dusk turns to darkness, torches and lanterns are lit, and a magical island comes alive with mysterious masked figures emerging from surrounding trees, The 'Caribbean' Tempest will enchant audiences ....'O brave new world, that has such people in it!'.

A busy roundabout in Bridgetown, Barbados, is the site of a powerful statue commemorating freedom from slavery on the island. It depicts a black man with his hands raised aloft in triumph, the newly broken chains still dangling from the manacles on his wrists.

This potent image has been drafted on to the end of a colourful new production of The Tempest as Caliban, played by the black actor Ade Sapara, gives the same signal of victory that recalls his opening words to Prospero: "This island’s mine…. that thou takest from me."

The fact that the show was playing just a couple of miles from the statue and that the audience was predominantly Bajan gave an added resonance to Shakespeare’s most colonial of plays, and to the spirit of forgiveness and redemption that inhabits it. The production has been retitled The Caribbean Tempest, and what looked in prospect like a carnival romp through the masque and magic of the piece has turned into a creditable creation fuelled by its exotic location and cross-cultural participants.

The casting of Kylie Minogue as Miranda may have raised the odd knowing smile in anticipation, but she conducted herself more than adequately. She even declined to sing, even though a number was specially written into the show for her.

Peter O’Toole, an even more unpredictable stellar presence, was originally engaged to play Prospero, but a clash of film dates prevented the charismatic Irishman from making the trip, and David Calder was recruited for the role, fresh from his success in the same part with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

The production was the main event in this year’s Virginia Atlantic Holders Season. This festival has been running in Barbados for the past six years, since John and Wendy Kidd agreed to turn over their 18th-century plantation estate to the event each March. Pavarotti and Lesley Garrett have been among the visitors, Christopher Biggins has supervised previous Shakespearean offerings but this year, with the arrival of Virgin’s new sponsorship, something more ambitious was sought.

The mastermind behind The Caribbean Tempest was Kit Hesketh-Harvey, of Kit and the Widow fame. He responded to a request from the Kidds to come up with a show that combined Bajan and international talent and settled on The Tempest.

He filleted the text to use Shakespeare’s lines as lyrics and brought in two local composers Andre Daniels and Arturo Tappin, to provide a set of new songs as well as a background score.

The show starts with the genuine sound of voodoo drummers and includes calypso, rap and reggae rhythms. Ariel, arrayed like a brilliantly hued bird of paradise, is accompanied by a tem of sprites whose skills incorporated stilt-walking, acrobactics and juggling, all fantastically caparisoned in huge feathered outfits. A children’s chorus keeps threatening to steal the show and at the centre is a clutch of English actors including Roger Lloyd Pack, Alan Cox, Rupert Penry-Jones and Kevin Moore to provide the required ballast. tempt3.gif (43583 bytes) "Its not a terribly well-paid job for them as the salary comes mainly in the form of rum and sunshine." Says Hesketh-Harvey. The performances are staged in the open air with a raised lawn as a stage and palm trees used to support the lighting rigs. The isle that is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs is effectively suggested by the background of crickets, frogs and birds. A couple of rum punches on the way into the 800-seater arena and the magic is beginning to have it effect even before Prospero starts to invoke his charms and spells.

But Hesketh-Harvey sees a more serious purpose afoot than providing some fanciful form of holiday culture. "There are so many reasons why the play should be revisited in a Caribbean location. Shakespeare was writing at a time when seafarers were returning from the West Indies with tales of shipwrecks and cannibals. Bajan English is nearer to Elizabethan English than the way we speak today. Because of the background of colonialism, The Tempest, is the most studied play on the island and slavery is still a very raw memory. It speaks directly to people here and the know it line for line, as the audience reaction demonstrates.

"The fact that it was written as a masque to celebrate a wedding accounts for the liberal use of music, and we have taken advantage of that. I’m a little disappointed that Kylie decided not to sing. We’d written O Brave New World as a solo for her. She does join in a duet with Ferdinand briefly, just to support the actor playing him who feels a bit vocally challenged. But she was serious about playing this one straight and has turned out to be a modal company member. She even helps carry the props."

The production also gave Hesjeth-Harvey the chance to explore voodoo traditions on the island. "The population here is mostly Christian and they are quite devout about it. But there is no doubt there is a good number who still belive in voodoo. I find it fascinating as I was born in Malawi and the sight of the witchdoctors coming to bless our house was the most terrifying experience I can remember."

A more significant visit occurred when officials from the Edinburgh Festival flew in to catch the last performances. "They are looking at us as a potential show for the Assembly Rooms I still feel that the magical garden setting is such a star in its own right, but if we could find a way to suggest some of that in an indoor venue, then we could be on.