The Tempest is widely accepted as Shakespeare’s final play and one of the first ever works of magic realism.

Marooned and left to die on a remote island, Prospero can command spirits, create apparitions and manipulate the elements. By using his magic, he summons a tempest to assemble his enemies so that he might take revenge on them, and in the process awakens in Miranda, his teenage daughter, her first experience of love. The theme of reconciliation gives immense emotional force to this powerful play.

In Trevor Nunn’s production of The Tempest for the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Prospero is played by Ralph Fiennes, who returns to the stage following Oedipus at the National Theatre in 2008. Fiennes’s work on the London stage also includes God Of Carnage, The Talking Cure and Brand, as well as many productions for the Almeida theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Also a huge film star, Fiennes has appeared on screen in The English Patient, The Constant Gardner, Sunshine, Schindler’s List, The Duchess, Quiz Show and The Reader.

For more about The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Haymarket read the First Night Feature or the Big Interview with Nicholas Lyndhurst.