THE atmospheric setting of St Michael's Church in Chagford has played host to an ambitious new production of one of William Shakespeare's classic plays.

The Whiddon Community and Tymescythe Theatre Company worked in partnership to present The Tempest last weekend.

The production used purpose-built staging for both visibility and audibility.

In the original play, set on a remote island, the Duke of Milan, Prospero, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion and skilful manipulation.

He conjures a storm to lure his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit King Alonso of Naples to the island.

The Chagford production sees several changes to its setting.

Alan and Sonia Fynn, who helped to bring the production to life, said: 'Our Tempest is set in the second half of the 15th century — over a hundred years before the first performance of the play in a banqueting hall in Blackfriars in 1611.

'Over the years this play has been adapted for many different times and locations, often to suit the employment of the text to further an individual artistic, mystical or even political vision; this despite the fact that Shakespeare's text gives numerous clues and sometimes clear direction, as to when and where his play was originally intended to be set.

'Of course, there is no right or wrong way to stage this play and no doubt it is uniquely flexible and capable of interpretation in so many ways.

'This may be the secret of its enduring success and popularity, even when it has been extensively modified and made into a spectacle as it the Victorian era.

'For us, the setting was first suggested by our theatre for a week — St Michael's Church.

'Traditional and full of history, dark and atmospheric, with high wooden roof timbers and stone floors strongly suggesting the original setting in Blackfriars all those years ago.

'A traditional staging seemed then to be the most appropriate and when we renewed our acquaintance with the text we quickly made the choice of the 15th century.

'You would be right to have a strong suspicion that the people, colours, costumes and ambience of the Italian Renaissance might have helped this decision to be made.

'So did Shakespeare's allusions to Algiers and piratical peoples, the route of the wedding party from Naples to Tunis and their shipwreck on the return. All in a period when the Kingdom of Naples was ruled by an Alonso and his son Ferdinand and Milan was a Duchy.

'These were all directions that we readily and enthusiastically took up.'