Basically not a bad night at the theatre. Ray’s Tempest is a slightly jingoistic story of a middle aged bloke with a terminal heart condition. His career and family are in tatters and he’s on his absolute last chance both health and career wise. He decides to go down a fierce redemption path to get both back on track before his number ultimately comes up.

When he starts making sales again at work through absolute sympathy selling, his manager suggests that he applies for a reality TV show where 5 terminally ill contestants play for the prize of their last wish. That is whatever the winning contestant  wants to the value of $1M. Black enough theme for a reality TV show? You betcha!

Ultimately Ray’s journey through celebrity draws parallel with the family members caught up in his dysfunction, primarily his song and ex-wife. Ray is a likeable and even charming character, but as the story evolves we find he is a weak, weak man and his newfound celebrity wont change his shortcomings.

A few reasons why you would see this play is because the inimitable Kym Gyngell puts in a stellar performance as the drunkard best friend of Ray. The mise en scene is excellent. With only seven actors always on stage, it’s an amazing production to watch as actors not playing a role in the scene act as stagehands moving props around. The stage itself remained fairly static but was really well designed, with crazy water features and excellent lighting.

All in all though, there wasn’t enough black comedy and too much pathos for my taste. About 7 out of 10. But if dysfunction family drama with a twist is your thing, check it out.