Thames-side Tempest

Reading's summer Open Air Shakespeare season

Far away on a strange remote island, it seems that anything can happen...

Giant figures appear and disappear; mariners are shipwrecked without even getting wet; drunken sailors befriend a monster; a powerful magician seeks justice; the natives seek their freedom; strange sounds and music fill the air; and a girl and a boy fall in love…

But is this where the magic must end?

The Tempest is one of Shakespeare's last plays, and is a fantastical comedy, perfectly suited to an English summer's evening by the river.

The Reading Summer Open Air Shakespeare returns on Saturday with a colourful cavalcade of comedy, magic and a trace of darkness, staged in the beautifully restored gardens of Caversham Court, nestling on the banks of the River Thames, close to Reading town centre.

Progress Theatre's The Tempest, directed by Chris Bertrand, opens on Saturday and runs until Saturday, July 30 (matinées on both Saturdays and Sunday, July 24. No evening performance on Sunday, July 24). Start times 7.45pm evenings and 2.30pm matinees

To book tickets, priced £15 (£12.50 concessions), visit www.ReadingArts.com or telephone (0118) 960 6060.