The Tempest in The Park

It was a beautiful balmy night,the second last night of Upstart Theatre Company's Shakespeare By The Lake production of "The Tempest".A good sized audience was spread around the lawned, tiered seating area of the woodlake amphitheatre in ellenbrook,some with lavish picnics layed out before them.The air was full of that lovely friendly ambience you get from outdoor productions of Shakespeare.The production crew had deftly transformed the dark arena into an oasis of light amidst the comparitive darkness of the park.The cast were in high spirits waiting to give their all to a still growing audience. It began with a phone call,one of the cast had broken down and would be late,not a huge problem, she did'nt have much in the first half,we would overcome.One actor mentioned that this had given him a sense of forboding of worse to come, foolshly we ignored him. The disasterous chain of events that were to become a full blown catastrophe began halfway through the first act. The reticulation behind the amphitheatre burst into life,something the council had assured us would not happen,pouring litres of water into the specially erected change tent, soakig costumes in seconds.Fortunatly many were saved by the quick actions of the wardrobe manager who acted stoically whilst well outside of her dry comfort zone.The actors continued, their costumes dampened but not their spirits In hindsight, it is interesting to speculate why no one at this stage,considered the possibility of another,closer section of reticulation silently awaiting its turn to cause havoc and mayhem.The audience sat, blissfully unaware of the sprinklers that lay beneath their feet, hidden in the ground like land mines.A duck entered stage right and a ghostlike pelican sailed behind ,like harbingers of doom,a peaceful lull before the storm. The screams ring in my ears still. The director sprung into action immediately,guiding the bewildered and bedraggled audience to the sanctuary of the stage area{"walk towards the light"}.Many in the company acted above and beyond the call of duty including one who heroically threw himself upon a sprinkler saving those around him. In best thespian tradition the show went on with the audience huddled at the rear of the stage area and the stage reversed.This worked quite well with only one actor getting confused and delivering his opening line to an auditorium empty apart from the odd soggy picnic, with the audience behind him{yes,okay,it was me}. And then something special happened,the bonding between cast and audience was amazing,of the sort that only occurs in the aftermath of a disaster.There was a feeling of oneness between all.Unfortunately it did not last long,The power fused and thus ended last nights performance of "The Tempest". Tonight is the last performance and if there is a law of compensation it should be a beauty.Dont miss it.