The Tempest

One of Shakespeare's greatest and most popular plays, The Tempest begs to be visualised by a master filmmaker. Julie Taymor's definitive film version is at once a romance and a comedy. It has elements of a revenge drama driven by the bitterness and fury of its lead character, the sorceress/scientist, Prospera. It has a charming and romantic young love story in the mode of Romeo and Juliet , it has three of Shakespeare's best and bawdiest lowlife comic roles and it has elements of science fiction and fantasy that can be fully realised with the magic of the medium. The book of Taymor's Tempest is both a handsome edition of Taymor's eminently readable and performance-ready adaptation of Shakespeare's play and a stunning visual narrative based on her film. In it, she uses all of her considerable cinematic and story-telling skills to make the action and atmosphere of the play come vividly to life. Ariel is an ever-changing human form filled with stormwind, fire, clouds, butterflies, bees and fireflies. Prospera harnesses the power of the moon in her cave/castle of magic potions and poisons.

Miranda and Ferdinand, the young lovers of the story float on the back of a giant fish on the sea as Prospera directs a phantasmagoric display of the heavens and the waters. Constellations dance with sea creatures, diving and flying, melding into one another. The buffoons, Stephano and Trinculo, are pursued by a pack of wild dogs Prospera conjures out of molten lava from a volcanic ravine. Taymor's Tempest stars Helen Mirren (Prospera), Alfred Molina (Stephano), Russell Brand (Trinculo), Djimon Hounsou (Caliban), Ben Whishaw (Ariel), David Strathairn (Alonso), Chris Cooper (Antonio), Alan Cummings (Sebastian), Felicity Jones (Miranda), Reeve Carney (Ferdinand) and Time Conti (Gonzalo).