Tempest

In a South London drama studio, a group of young, ethnically diverse students explore Shakespeare, and discover how much relevance ‘The Tempest’ has to their real lives. This doc is constructed largely from talking-head interviews with the students, in and out of character, plus snippets of performance. The result is slippery, heartfelt and interesting – though not, perhaps, as interesting as the filmmakers would like it to be. The inclusion of footage of the London riots over the opening credits promises a more confrontational tone than the film delivers, as directors Rob Curry and Anthony Fletcher struggle to establish a connection between those uprisings and the figures in the frame. But there’s an infectious sense of joy and discovery here, too, as people who felt that Shakespeare wasn’t for them come to recognise the enduring relevance and wonder of his work.