Theater review

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on,” says Prospero in “The Tempest,” one of Shakespeare’s six romances. One of Shakespeare’s later plays, it was written when he was stretching the boundaries of his power as a playwright and social commentator. It’s not surprising that the focus of the play is on power in the form of rebellion, treachery, mutiny and conspiracy. But the play maintains a dreamlike setting, a fantasy island with a shipwreck, an enchanted romance, a magical sprite and a powerful sorcerer. For anyone who is willing to be under the spell of Shakespeare, the Skowhegan Regional Theater production of “The Tempest,” at 8 p.m. June 22 and 23, is the stuff that dreams are made on.

Prospero, a magician who was formerly the Duke of Milan, has been shipwrecked on an island with his daughter, Miranda, for 12 years. He causes a great tempest which shipwrecks his usurping brother who finally is held accountable for his dynastic transgressions.

The subplots, of course, are plentiful. Prospero also navigates the marriage of Miranda to Ferdinand, son to the King of Naples. Caliban, Prospero’s bestial slave, plots his own rebellion and plans to claim the island as his own. Ariel, Prospero’s airy sprite, flits about casting spells. He, too, hopes to gain his freedom by doing good deeds.

The play is also about colonialism in the 17th century. “O brave new world,” says Miranda, and we come to realize that the settlement of a new world becomes (and has remained for nearly 300 years) the struggle between the forces of domination and resistance.

It’s a mighty task for a community theater to take on Shakepeare, but the Park Street Players, directed playfully and intelligently by Kent Higgins, have met the challenge with impressive sophistication and thoroughness.

Outstanding performances are given by several players. Pete Pfeiffer plays Caliban with every bone and muscle in his body. His physical contortions make us feel sympathy, disgust, and fright.

During a scene of drunken indulgence, Jason Poulin as the jester Trinculo and John DeWitt as the butler Stephano work beautifully with Pfeiffer to perform a scene that is hilariously burlesque, but profoundly important to the central question of the play: what makes a man?

As Ariel, Jasa Porciello, a sophomore at Winslow High School, is graceful, animated and charming as she glides poetically on and off stage. Her lines are delivered with unihibited innocence, and her energy is refreshing and indeed enchanting.

Robin Lisherness gives a fine performance as Prospero, though he frequently lowers his eyes to the floor rather than toward the audience. Sabrina DeTurk as the near-goddess Miranda, and Matt Mattingly as her betrothed Ferdinand, deliver competent, though not particularly impassioned performances.

Terry McManus, Mark Breton, Jeremy Brown, Sumner Hayward, Jason Pooler, David Morrison and Andrew Hayward are enthusiastic though somewhat less convincing.

Sumner Hayward’s set design is artistically and functionally outstanding with simple drapes of white cloth used to create caves, coves, rooms and ships. Special pyrotechnic effects by John Gagnon are surprisingly successful, well-executed and smartly employed. The lighting by Eric Sirois is similarly appropriate and careful.