Easily pleased

It's not hard to keep the undereducated masses of Surrey Quays happy - a two-bob Abba tribute band is all it takes. They were truly, truly awful but the happy shoppers seemed to like it.



Their mock Swedish performance was poles apart from the entertainment of last night: The Tempest at The Globe.

I love going to The Globe as it is such a wonderful building and the atmosphere inside fills me with childlike excitement and anticipation. But, sadly, this version of The Tempest was utterly baffling.

All the characters were played by just three actors. As good as they were, it was virtually impossible to spot when they changed from one role to another. There was no change of costume, donning of different hats, or, in the case of Prospero/Duke Milan/King Naples/Shiphand even a change of voice!

Having never read or seen The Tempest before, I spent the whole performance thinking that Prospero and The Duke of Milan were two different people (I think they are the same person?) and the King of Naples - how did he get there?

And who were Fernando and Geraldino (or whatever his name was?) and how did Prospero have a daughter?

All was a swirl of some quite impressive physical theatre set on the traditionally set-less stage and accompanied by three female dancers in leather jackets and studs.

A most disappointing play which seemed to have been staged purely at the vanity of the director thinking he could pull it off.

I had better get on the web now and look up The Tempest to see what Shakespeare inteded it to be about!