The Storm

Genre: Comedy
Opened 12 Aug 2005
Written: By Peter Oswald, after Plautus
Directed: Tim Carroll
Cast: Mark Rylance
Synopsis: Descending from the heavenly sphere of the gods to the mortal world below, Arcturus raises a mighty storm. For Labrax, a 'procurer' of women, the storm brings shipwreck and ruin. For his female captives it offers a chance of escape. Washed up on a rocky coastline the two women seek refuge in the shrine of Venus, but it seems that the goddess alone cannot protect them. They are forced to rely instead on the help of the elderly Daemones, who is already struggling to control his reluctant slaves: the impudent Sceparino and the inept Gripus.
Other Info: A Modern practices production exploring clothing, music, dance and settings possible in the Globe of 2005.

What the critics had to say.....
FIONA MOUNTFORD for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Squall-ridden shambles." MADDY COSTA for THE GUARDIAN says, "Tim Carroll's production is busy, littered with clunky dancing, bad singing and worse gags, many of which refer, with an irritatingly obvious ironic wink, to the stuff of modern life, from chocolate Hobnobs to Saturday Night Fever and the Co-op bank. There's plenty of time for silliness because Oswald's play is more holes than plot." THE INDEPENDENT says "Never a dull moment." SAM MARLOWE for THE TIMES says, "Taking Plautine conventions as his cue, Oswald piles on farce, slapstick, anachronisms and metatheatrical jokes, turning a classical Roman comedy into exuberant popular theatre for the 21st century." JOHN THAXTER for THE STAGE says, "A quickfire comedy struggles to emerge from this fitfully funny plod through the problems of staging an ancient Roman farce when cloaked in anachronisms from mobile phones to Christmas." ALASTAIR MACULAY for THE FINANCIAL TIMES says, "Theatre does not get much worse than a bad evening at Shakespeare's Globe: it is uncomfortable, the wrong kind of vulgar, and uninspired."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Independent
The Guardian
The Times
The Stage
Financial Times