In February 2008 Matthew took the part of Caliban in An Ordinary Storm by Hilary Elfick. An Ordinary Storm is a poetry cycle based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The piece featured an international cast and was performed at the Marjorie Barclay Theatre at the University of Otago, as part of the International Shakespeare Conference.

Click here to listen to an extract from Matthew's performance.

Here is what Hilary Elfick has to say about An Ordinary Storm.

"An Ordinary Storm is not a play but a sequence of poems, or witnesses. Each character tells us what he or she believes happened, not only during the time on the island, but also before and since. Each argues his case, and the others have to hear him, uninterrupted. In the process we learn more about the characters in Shakespeare’s play.

The time is somewhere near the present, the setting is Polynesia. Prospero is a physicist, isolated by his genius, who caused the wreck by hacking into the ship’s navigation system. Caliban’s mother was an albino, who was banned from her tribe after she had been, illegally, made pregnant." (From the programme notes).

An Ordinary Storm, was published, performed, recorded and filmed by The University of Otago in Dunedin. Copies of the book, CD and DVD are available from the University, or in Europe from Pennings.

Click here to view the cast list.