Sigourney Weaver’s Prospero may finally set us free of this celebrity Shakespeare indulgence | Kate Maltby

Film star's floundering performance in The Tempest exposes flaw in theatreland's reliance on big names

In 1986, Sigourney Weaver completed her second Alien movie and returned to New York's off-Broadway scene to prove she could do Shakespeare. For Aliens, she received an Academy Award nomination.

For Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, she received this review from the New York Times: The Merchant of Venice marks the local Shakespearean debut, in the role of Portia, of Sigourney Weaver and, in all candidness, this is not Ms Weaver's finest three and one-quarter hours... Together, the director and star seem disoriented by Shakespeare."