The Tempest Ex-Young Pleasance The newly formed Ex-Young Pleasance recreate the story of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ in an hour. This new initiative seeks to provide a support network for graduates of Young Pleasance who wanted to bring a show to the Fringe. This is their own, completely self-adapted, written and produced version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, performed by the all-male cast Jonathan Burch, Danny Fisher, Jack Hartnell, William Irwin, Rupert Littlewood, James McNicholas and Robert Samuelson. William Irwin who is Prospero aside, all the other performers play at least one main character in addition to Ariel and Caliban. This in theory is intriguing and interesting, in reality I did find it on occasion confusing. They also doubled the characters Alonzo & Trinculo played by James McNicholas and Gonzalo & Stephano played by Jack Hartnell. There are several scenes, which flash between Alonzo with Gonzalo, and Triculo with Stephano, they do use two simple props to demonstrate which character is which, but as the scenes swap back and forward so quickly I can’t fathom how the actors don’t get confused. At first I questioned the casting of the show on visual impression, would have swapped a few characters around, but as the production developed I became less aware of this initial thought.  I started my viewing noticing costume changes but again as the time advanced this became less and less obvious. I was watching the show thinking some of these faces seem familiar to me and as they are all ex members of Young Pleasance I have probably seen them perform in past Fringe productions.  On the strength of this well written and superbly performed production wouldn’t be surprised to see them in professional productions in the future. ****