The Tempest

David Warner is Prospero, with Carl Prekopp as Ariel, Rose Leslie as Miranda and Don Warrington as Gonzalo. Shakespeare's play of magic, romance and revenge. Broadcast as part of the Shakespeare Unlocked season.

Four hundred years after its first performance, Shakespeare's play still captivates audiences with its story of usurping brothers, monsters, magic and romance. Significantly it is also a world in which sound plays a crucial part, with Prospero's island being 'full of noises'. Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place, using illusion and skilful manipulation. A tempest brings Prospero's brother Antonio and Alonso, King of Naples to the island. Once there, Ariel and Prospero's machinations bring about the revelation of Antonio's evil cunning, the redemption of Alonso, and the marriage of Miranda to Alonso's son, Ferdinand.

Prospero...David Warner
Miranda...Rose Leslie
Ariel...Carl Prekopp
Caliban...James Garnon
Ferdinand...Al Weaver
Alonso...Paul Moriarty
Antonio/Boatswain...James Lailey
Sebastian...Peter Hamilton Dyer
Gonzalo...Don Warrington
Trinculo...Don Gilet
Stephano...Gerard McDermott
Ceres...Deeivya Meir

Music written and performed by The Devil's Violin Company
Sarah Moody, Luke Carver Goss and Oliver Wilson-Dickson
Sound production by Caleb Knightley
Adapted for radio and directed by Jeremy Mortimer

David Warner made his stage debut exactly 50 years ago, when he appeared in Tony Richardson's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Court. Three years later, in 1965, he played Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.

First broadcast in May 2012.