SHAKESPEARE

Synopsis

Televised adaptation of the play directed by Basil Coleman with Michael Redgrave as Prospero, Keith Michell as Caliban and Ronald Pickup as Ariel. Dancing support by ‘The Ballet Rambert’.

Series

Play of the Month

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Television

Transmission details

12 May 1968 at 21:15 (Channel: BBC1)

Duration

115 mins

Availability

No archive copy traced

Credits

Director

Basil Coleman

Producer

Cedric Messina

Writer

William Shakespeare

Music

Raymond Leppard

Art Direction

Tony Abbott

Cast

Michael Redgrave	Prospero
Tessa Wyatt	Miranda
Ronald Pickup	Ariel
Keith Michell	Caliban
Jonathan Dennis	Ferdinand
Ann Kennedy	Ceres
Donald Eccles	Gonzalo
Douglas Rain	Stephano
Hilary Tindall	Iris
Jack MacGowran	Trinculo
James Cairncross	Alonso
Jeanne Moody	Juno
John Horton	Adrian
John Woodvine	Sebastian
Llewellyn Rees	Francisco
Paul Hardwick	Antonio

Additional Details

Production type

Television and Radio Drama

Plays

Tempest, The

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes

The BBC Audience Research Viewing Panel report noted some viewers found the plot ‘abtruse and fanciful’ and there was widespread criticism of the storm effects at the beginning which drowned out the dialogue. The bleak and stark sets evoked in one viewer ‘a sun-bleached, salty emptiness’.

History

Part of a series of eight Shakespeareare plays produced for BBC by Cedric Messina, who was to launch the production of the BBC TV Shakespeare series three years later.

Figures

Reaction Index 69.

Production Company

Name

BBC

Notes

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)