I can try, though it's been a couple of weeks, and I know I've forgotten stuff already.
Prospero is entirely shabby sort of wizard -- very powerful and happy to make use of that power but without any clear feeling that he has any ethics to go with it. One of the reviews I read (https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/the-tempest-review-2) called him "petty," and that's a good word for him. His rich raiment is a bright purple polyester caftan that he abandons early on for a yellow bathing suit that's all he wears for most of the play. Miranda wears a little-girl shortie dress that emphasizes all her assets. The shipwrecked company wears modern European business dress. And Caliban wears shorts and a polo shirt with a badge marked "Staff." The costumes seem to play games with the usual idea of the characters' roles in that the colonial aspects are leaned upon. For example, the abortive banquet toward the end is all fast food packaging. And among the stuff that washes up on the shore is a huge crate of rubber duckies. And when Ariel keeps asking for her (in this case, at least) freedom, Prospero never gives a straight answer but always temporizes. He clearly sees her as property to keep or dispose of as he will. And despite the canonical sexual assault lines in the play ("people the isle with Calibans"), this is a very sympathetic Caliban.
I know The Tempest is one of the shorter plays to begin with, but this was a short production, only 2.5 hours including the intermission. And what really surprised me is that it ends with Prospero's "Our revels now are ended speech," with none of the aftermath. It's delivered very well, but then trails off at the end, as Prospero kind of shoos the audience away. I didn't get the feeling he was going to be any better a duke of Milan now than he was before he turned the whole thing over to his brother and got kicked out.
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Prospero is entirely shabby sort of wizard -- very powerful and happy to make use of that power but without any clear feeling that he has any ethics to go with it. One of the reviews I read (https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/the-tempest-review-2) called him "petty," and that's a good word for him. His rich raiment is a bright purple polyester caftan that he abandons early on for a yellow bathing suit that's all he wears for most of the play. Miranda wears a little-girl shortie dress that emphasizes all her assets. The shipwrecked company wears modern European business dress. And Caliban wears shorts and a polo shirt with a badge marked "Staff." The costumes seem to play games with the usual idea of the characters' roles in that the colonial aspects are leaned upon. For example, the abortive banquet toward the end is all fast food packaging. And among the stuff that washes up on the shore is a huge crate of rubber duckies. And when Ariel keeps asking for her (in this case, at least) freedom, Prospero never gives a straight answer but always temporizes. He clearly sees her as property to keep or dispose of as he will. And despite the canonical sexual assault lines in the play ("people the isle with Calibans"), this is a very sympathetic Caliban.
I know The Tempest is one of the shorter plays to begin with, but this was a short production, only 2.5 hours including the intermission. And what really surprised me is that it ends with Prospero's "Our revels now are ended speech," with none of the aftermath. It's delivered very well, but then trails off at the end, as Prospero kind of shoos the audience away. I didn't get the feeling he was going to be any better a duke of Milan now than he was before he turned the whole thing over to his brother and got kicked out.