Tucked into a lush natural setting at the Carrie Blast Furnaces \u2014 a company-favorite site \u2014 is the enchanted island where Quantum Theatre\u2019s \u201cThe Tempest\u201d conjures magic, music and a meaningful farewell.<\/p>\n
This is not close to the first time Quantum has tackled Shakespeare. It isn\u2019t even the first time that it\u2019s brought the Bard\u2019s words to the Blast Furnaces. But this is the final production that founder and artistic director Karla Boos will direct before her retirement later this year.<\/p>\n
Boos founded Quantum in 1990 and the company did Shakespeare for the first time with \u201cAntony and Cleopatra\u201d in 1997.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tempest\u201d is an evergreen choice for a send-off, as it\u2019s believed to be Shakespeare\u2019s final solo-written play.<\/p>\n
In a note from the director, Boos said that she resonated with Jan Kott\u2019s writing on the play, which describes \u201cThe Tempest\u201d as offering \u201cfragile \u2014 though stubborn \u2014 hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
The romance-comedy revolves around protagonist Prospero, played by longtime Quantum Shakespeare collaborator Jeffrey Carpenter in a fierce and stunning turn. The magician is also the exiled ex-Duke of Milan who ended up on the island where the play takes place with his young daughter, Miranda (the winning Carolina Vargas Romero).<\/p>\n
After a dozen years stranded, Prospero gets an opportunity for revenge when his traitorous brother, Antonio (Corey Rieger) and a party of other nobles sail nearby. With the help of Ariel (Tom\u00e9 Cousin), the spirit on the island that he has pressed into his service, he causes a storm that forces the ship to his shores and enacts a multi-pronged plan to regain his former position.<\/p>\n
The first scene of Quantum\u2019s \u201cThe Tempest\u201d is the shipwreck, where audience members pause on their walk to the island set to watch the beautifully choreographed event, full of atmospheric sound and haunting movement. Sound designer Joe Pino, along with music director, composer and arranger Daniel Nesta Curtis, filled the entire show with immersive music and effects, but the opening was a masterpiece.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Mayer-Staley\u2019s scenic design is simple but effective, especially with Prospero\u2019s elevated \u201ccell\u201d hovering over the round island stage. At this point in the year, the sun still adequately illuminates the theatrical setting up until intermission, when C. Todd Brown\u2019s lighting design takes over, shifting through brightness for the darkening skies and punctuating Prospero\u2019s magical casting with flashes and colors.<\/p>\n
The play requires a fairly large cast, all of whom brought their A-game. Jereme Rodriguez, who portrays Prospero\u2019s slave Caliban, impresses with physicality and intensity that draw the whole audience in. Cousin\u2019s Ariel is similarly physical, though more sprightly (no pun intended), but equally vulnerable in portrayal. Cousin also provided the evocative choreography for the play. And from comic relief to enchanted sailors, the whole crew of the wrecked ship shines.<\/p>\n
One of the most dazzling creative efforts in the production is the show-within-a-show conjured by magic for lovers Miranda and Ferdinand (an earnest and lovable Joshua Brelsford). Three goddesses in elaborate costumes and headdresses \u2014 incredible efforts by costume designer Susan Tsu \u2014 stage an enthralling musical performance until they are interrupted by Prospero. Sandy York, Jennifer Tober and Adrienne Wehr move with an ethereal grace as their shadow selves stretch tall on the backdrop behind them.<\/p>\n
Much like apparently many, many people around the world, I went to the cinema to see Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d this weekend. If you\u2019re looking for a live local companion piece to that film, \u201cThe Tempest\u201d is a great fit.<\/p>\n
There is so much to discuss about \u201cThe Tempest,\u201d from conversations about colonialism and oppression to examinations of gender. But it is also about magic, and the magic of creativity. At the end of the play, Prospero asks the audience to set him free, much the way he sets Ariel free. In a note from the director, Boos says, \u201cIt\u2019s about history, history endlessly repeating itself. If it\u2019s not too grandiose to say so, theater artists make theater to decode human behavior, and behind that impulse is a wish to see evolution \u2014 human beings becoming better-behaved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boos has given the Pittsburgh theater community a magical gift for the past 35 years, and this last spell is just as enchanting as any in her body of work at Quantum. \u201cThe Tempest\u201d is directed with freshness, spirit and passion, bringing an oft-performed classic to life in collaboration with a top-notch creative team. It is a final directorial effort to be remembered.<\/p>\n