vantage student newspaper

Reader, forgive me. For not only am I hungover, but I am really not very well equipped at writing reviews, especially not of Shakespearian plays. However I shall give it a shot, because of the sheer urgency so you can all book yourselves a ticket before it’s too late!

Last night, I successfully convinced several pals to join me for the Tempest-Sports night mash up. Which basically means, prelashing at a play, how cultural! As we made a quick pit stop at Bar100, we found ourselves sitting in the only seats that were left, centre front row. We weren’t really sure what to expect, as none of us were “arty” in any way shape, or form. Furthermore, though we meant to, we had not read Sparknotes or Wikipedia for a plot summary. In short, we were absolutely clueless.

Luckily we needn’t have worried. The show itself was incredible. It was thoroughly entertaining, a mixture of dark plots and lighthearted comedy.  I kept thinking, how did DramaSoc put this on so early into term? Everything was done to an excellent standard, from the stage and lighting to the costumes. The cast were superb– it’s worth watching just to see how brilliantly they memorised all those lines. Sadly, many of these were lost on my friends and I, who are not well versed in the language of Shakespeare! I think it is real tribute to the acting talent of the cast that we managed to follow the story pretty well considering we didn’t understand half the words being said (and were getting steadily more liquored up!).

For me, the star of the show had to be Aerial, played by Antonia Northam. Not only was she quite the contortionist, but it turned out she has an excellent singing voice and she can play the flute. My friends and I were left wondering if there was anything she can’t do, as the chap next to us informed us she also studied medicine. That revelation left us in a state of awe and envy, until we realised that we too could achieve greatness if only we didn’t spend our evenings watching what happens in Kavos…!

The ultimate yardstick I use to determine if something is truly enjoyable or not, is whether I fall asleep. I can assure you that I did not close my eyes or utter a yawn for even a moment. So if you are looking to do something a little different in Bristol, and you like to keep things on the cheap then you’ve got to go see The Tempest. It’s showing tonight until Saturday and student tickets are a cheeky fiver! Going out afterwards worked a treat, mainly because then I didn’t end up having nightmares about all the weird, creepy, island monsters! A big bravo to all the cast and crew who were involved in producing such a mega performance in such a short space of time. I’m already looking forward to seeing A Midsummer Night’s Dream next month.