The Tempest

Even those who love William Shakespeare know the Bard was not always at his best. The Tempest, written late in the author's career, is a pastiche of Shakespeare's brightest formulas woven with fantastical threads, allowing for significant literary license. American Players Theatre colors those threads brightly in its current production, creating a bold sensory experience out of the author's muddle. Director James Bohnen walks his cast briskly through the tale of magician and former nobleman Prospero (Kenneth Albers) and daughter Miranda (Susan Shunk), who are banished to a deserted island, and the vengeance Prospero takes against a ship full of former friends and foes that sails too closely and into a tempest of his creation. The production runs through Sept. 30.