The Tempest, Birmingham Royal Ballet: Sunderland Empire

WHEN David Bintley took on the role of director of Birmingham Royal Ballet he harboured an ambition to create a production based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Thirty years on that project has become a reality and shows just how productive the interim years have been. His detailed choreography, along with the accessible score by composer Sally Beamish, captures the drama, romance and humour of the original.

Central to the story is the magical power of Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan (Iain Mackay). Now marooned on the mysterious desert island with his daughter Miranda (Jenna Roberts), Bintley rightly places her awakening love for the shipwrecked Ferdinand (Joseph Caley) at the centre of the ballet. On the island where magic abounds both Roberts and Caley bring a delightful sense of innocence to their roles.

Also resident on the island is Prospero’s eager servant Aerial, a fleet-of-foot Mathias Dingman, who at times literally becomes a spirit of the air. He is in stark contrast to the wild and earthly antics of Tyrone Singleton’s Caliban whose corruption by Valentin Olovyannikov’s drunken butler Stephano, and James Barton’s Trinculo, provide the comic interludes.

The production is complemented by the atmospheric designs of Rae Smith and lighting of Bruno Poet, and even though this technically complex production was brought to an unscheduled halt on Thursday night, it did nothing to dent the audience's enthusiasm. As Miranda might have said, O brave new ballet.

* Runs until Saturday, October 22. Box Office: 0844-871-3022 or ATGtickets.com/Sunderland

Laurence Sach