A MUCH-ANTICIPATED encore screening of The Tempest comes to the Brewhouse this January.

Recorded live from Shakespeare’s home town, Stratford-upon-Avon, from the world famous Royal Shakespeare Company, this ground-breaking production is directed by Artistic Director Gregory Doran and stars Simon Russell Beale as Prospero.

On a distant island a man waits.

Robbed of his position, power and wealth, his enemies have left him in isolation. But this is no ordinary man, and this no ordinary island.

Prospero is a magician, able to control the very elements and bend nature to his will.

When a sail appears on the horizon, he reaches out across the ocean to the ship that carries the men who wronged him.

Creating a vast magical storm he wrecks the ship and washes his enemies up on the shore. When they wake they find themselves lost on a fantastical island where nothing is as it seems.’

Considered to be the last complete Shakespeare play solely attributed to him, it was presented at Court for Kings James I on the evening of All Saints’ Day, November 1, 1611.

It is believed that Shakespeare was inspired by the tide of exploration occurring at the time, in particular accounts of the shipwreck of a colonising vessel, the Sea Venture, off the coast of Bermuda in the summer of 1609.

Simon Russell Beale (whose credits include King Lear and Richard III for the RSC, Penny Dreadful (TV), The Death of Stalin, My Cousin Rachel, and The Deep Blue Sea (film)) returns to the RSC after 20 years to play Prospero.

Mark Quartley plays Ariel, a spirit. Mark’s previous theatre work includes Written on the Heart and Measure for Measure (RSC 2011/12), Private Peaceful (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Macbeth (Trafalgar Studios), and Ghosts (Rose theatre, Kingston).

Event Cinema broadcasts offer an utterly unique cinema experience.

Cameras are placed around the RSC’s thrust stage auditorium, offering an unforgettable and intimate experience making cinema audiences feel right in the heart of the action.

It will be screened in the comfortable surroundings of the Brewhouse Theatre’s main auditorium with state of the art visuals and full Dolby surround sound.

‘The finest Prospero I have ever seen…probably the finest performance from (Simon Russell) Beale.’ ***** The Financial Times. 

January 21 at 7.30pm.