Director • Translator • Playwright     

Rob Melrose

THE TEMPEST
by William Shakespeare
The Cutting Ball Theater
Rob Melrose, Artistic Director
November 5 - December 19, 2010

Directed by Rob Melrose
Set Design by Michael Locher
Costume Design by Bessie Delucchi
Lighting Design by Heather Basarab
Original Music / Sound Design by Cliff Caruthers
Dramaturgy by Bennet Fisher
Voice and Text Direction by Andrew Wade and Lynne Soffer

Cast

Photos by Rob Melrose

“Rob Melrose’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest takes place in a psychiatrist’s office at the bottom of a swimming pool with just three actors tackling 10 roles in a tiny theatre located in the heart of San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. Guess what? The damned thing works!”

George Heymont

-The Huffington Post

"If you’re in San Francisco, go and see Rob Melrose’s gorgeous, 3-actor production of The Tempest. I don’t often feel a sense of wonder in the theatre–though I live in hope– but by the end of this magically protean production (and play) I was transported."

-Christine Evans

​Writing.Performance

"It is a delight to report that there is a theatrical marvel in store for you: Cutting Ball Artistic Director (and co-founder) Rob Melrose has gone well beyond a mere modern interpretation – he has re-envisioned The Tempest as an avant-garde dream; one which elucidates the psychological complexities of Shakespeare in such a way that theatre never seemed so alive, intimate, accessible, extraordinary and (by no means an understatement) brilliant. What makes it even more astonishing is that he uses only three actors to play all of the roles."

-Tony Frankel

Stage and Cinema

THE TEMPEST - THE CUTTING BALL THEATER

"In Melrose’s alluring vision, characters morph in ways that feel organic and in sync with the island’s magical properties, casting new light on the various and ambivalent relationships."

-Jean Schiffman

The San Francisco Examiner

“From a visual standpoint, this play is amazing. The set is a piece of brilliance, leaving the small EXIT on Taylor Theater utterly transformed.”
                                                -Arielle Little

The Daily Californian

"This is a very clever production, yet what amazed me the most is the way that the cleverness reinforced the themes and the emotion of the play, rather than detracting from it."

-Marissa Skudlarek

Marissabidillia