This is a production for Junior High students. The text has been bowlderized (all `improper' material is excised), all the language has been simplified so that no obscure words are used, and non-essential plot devices are eliminated. As an example of the last is any mention of Claribel, the daughter from whose marriage in Tunis they return from.
The production is of a play, shot by one video camera. Costumes are fantastic, but with the anachronism that Prospero wears Ben Franklin specs. The sets are minimalist and mildly interesting. The whole effect has more of a junior educational tone than one which unleashes the power of the play.
Some well-known actors are employed, and that is the only remarkable thing about this affair, and that only as passing curiosity.
The Sebastian is a doofus from several TeeVee comedies. The Ariel is the `Psycho' guy, Roddie McDowell, which gives a strange air to his performance. The Caliban is Richard Burton, heavily disguised. Such an actor! This is from a period during which he describes himself as a hopeless, continual drunk who had sex with countless partners with great emphasis on costars. Makes you constantly aware of the Miranda, here Lee Remick, and whether the sexual approach in the play was mirrored in real life and what happened.
