The Tempest creates, in a brief evening, a vast world of characters - of steadfast virtue and ingenious treachery; of vengeance and mercy; of world-weary cynicism and childish wonder; of the first blush of love.

But above all towers the figure of Prospero the magician, the deposed Duke of Milan who has pined away his manhood, marooned on a forgotten island. He has spent decades building and honing an awesome army of spirits and charms to exact justice on his usurpers. And now, standing at the pinnacle of his powers, with the enemies who all but destroyed him firmly in his grasp, he finds that he must let it all go, and walk alone into old age.