A four-centuries-old tale of shipwreck and mystery will enchant audiences and transform the Loch Ard Gorge once again this weekend after an 11-year break.
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Shakespeare’s The Tempest – his “one and only shipwreck saga” – will be performed at the iconic site on January 26, 27 and 28 by the theatre company Ozact.
The gorge was named after the Loch Ard ship which ran aground in 1878, resulting in dozens of deaths.
Artistic director Bruce Widdop, who also plays lead character Prospero, said the evening performances would allow the audience to watch the light conditions in the gorge change, and if they’re lucky, the sun setting as the show concludes.
Mr Widdop said the tale, a “mixture of comedy and tragedy”, was the last play Shakespeare wrote on his own.
“There are lots of fantastic soliloquies that seem to be reflective of the ageing Shakespeare and his last words on life and what it should be about,” he said.
He said the gorge was the perfect location. and revealed his favourite line from the play:
We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
The cast will perform in 19th-century costumes, which reflect the parallels between the shipwreck in the story and the real one that defines the location.
“In The Tempest there are two teenage survivors, just like Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael on the Loch Ard,” Mr Widdop said.
Mr Widdop said in the play the survivors fall in love and get married, however, despite significant public interest in the real pair after the Loch Ard shipwreck, the same did not happen.
The play was first performed by the group in an outdoor setting in 1986, and a special staging of The Tempest was held at the gorge in 2007 as part of 75th anniversary celebrations of the Great Ocean Road.
The Saturday show is sold out, but visit ozact.com for more information or to purchase tickets for the Friday and Sunday shows.