"An exhilarating production…I’m talking about the giddy liberation that comes from being caught up in a collective fantasy that makes you forget how small your existence can feel…It is the most purely pleasurable of the trilogy and the most entertaining ‘Tempest’ I’ve ever seen…I rarely stopped to consider that I was watching women playing men. I was too much under the spell of make-believe that is theater, in which a talented person can will herself into any form."
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"An effective, well-edited Tempest (105 minutes without intermission), and Walter’s emotionally translucent Prospero—bluff pride exquisitely mingled with shame and penitence—is reason enough to attend. The rest of the youthful, multiracial cast does energetic, appealing work."
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"It’s not much of a criticism to say that the rest of the cast is not at Walter’s level; who is? But every concept exacts a price, and if your concept is that a bunch of prisoners, with all their diverse accents and perspectives and abilities, is putting on a play, inevitably some of the sophisticated, single-point-of-view beauty of the text is going to be lost…Most of the time, Lloyd’s production seems to be making an excuse for nontraditional casting instead of merely exulting in it."
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"Lloyd’s staging of 'The Tempest' imagines that the play is being performed by an all-female cast of inmates. And as with the previous productions...the approach has its pluses and minuses...The ensemble is headed by the formidable Harriet Walter, giving a superb performance as the magician Prospero...Despite the actors’ fine efforts, the meta-theatricality of it all—winked at when one of the characters complains about 'postmodern shit'— proves more gimmicky than enlightening."
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"The prison concept does not always serve the play well, but it reflects its themes of physical dislocation and overcoming destructive anger...This production makes a great case for the ongoing practice of performing Shakespeare for and with prisoners. Now that Lloyd’s trilogy is ending, it would be nice to see more all-female or gender-blind productions of Shakespeare, but they do not necessarily need to be tied down to an experimental concept."
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"The divine Harriet Walter plays Shakespeare's most godlike creation, Prospero, with uncommon depth of feeling…The prison motif works better here than in any of Lloyd's previous efforts, leading to the kind of seamless storytelling that one hopes for (but rarely gets) when Shakespeare is adapted to an unlikely time or place…In this week of presidential pardons, 'The Tempest' and its themes of clemency resonate, particularly in this astute adaptation."
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"Harriet Walter's Prospero is such a thrilling and original characterization that it very nearly justifies Phyllida Lloyd's over-interpreted staging…We are seeing ‘The Tempest’ as produced by specific prisoners...This is an interesting idea as far as it goes, but the constant intrusion of episodes of the inmates' daily life proves to be irritatingly intrusive…Certain ideas already seem past their sell-by date...The casting is extremely variable…The comedy subplot is especially lumbering here."
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"It has some terrific coup de theatres that are bound to tickle your fancy...Walter, doubling as Prospero and the inmate Hanna, is superb...One of the marks of a great production is that it makes you see a familiar text in a fresh light. Lloyd's gender-blind 'Tempest' set in a prison does that and more. It invites you to watch women step into traditionally male roles with no apologies. What's more, it forces you to witness up-close how our justice system works—and how harsh it can be."
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