The Tempest

"The Tempest" is Shakespeare's greatest dramatic poem and for that reason - unlike most of his other plays - it is usually more enjoyable to read and to hear than to watch on stage! As an entertainment for a court that delighted in masques (however), it has that sophisticated intellectual pageantry, and it has traces of the old morality play as well but refined and sublimated. It is also a fairy tale with all the familiar characters and situations! And it all ends happily, as it should, surely Ferdinand and Miranda lived happily ever after. With a cast of leading actors and actresses, including Sir Michael Redgrave (Prospero), Hugh Griffith (Caliban), Vanessa Redgrave (Ariel) and Anna Massey (Miranda), this is an outstanding recorded performance of Shakespeare's last and most inspired romantic comedy.