With its themes of colonialism, the master-servant dynamic and tentative reconciliation, The Tempest has long been ripe for a South African tweak. In this co-production between the RSC and the admirable Baxter Theatre Centre of Cape Town, the setting is generically African but the sentiment decidedly post-apartheid, with the most generous portrayal of Caliban I have ever seen.

Janice Honeyman’s fast-moving production is a riot of colour, music, ritual masks, stilts, puppets and tribal dancing, as the magical isle is filled with a wonderful team of shaman-like spirits. So enthralling, in fact, is this aesthetic that it’s easy to overlook the piece’s weaknesses, of which there are a number.

For all his front-stage declaiming, Antony Sher’s Prospero struggles to mine the gravitas of a man reviewing his life and art and preparing for the dying of the light. It doesn’t help that this scowly magician is locked in an uneven contest with Caliban, played with affronted dignity by that inherently sympathetic actor, John Kani. It’s telling that the closing image is of Kani, standing proudly upright after throwing away his shackle‑like crutches.

The Alonso/Sebastian shipwreck team, dressed like the last outpost of the Raj, are indistinguishable in their blandness, although the Trinculo/Stephano subplot is unusually amusing. Too many members of this enthusiastic cast get their iambic pentameters in a twist and it’s hard to care much about, let alone believe in, the lightning romance between Miranda and Ferdinand. A storm in a very colourful teacup.
Until 14 March, then at Richmond Theatre 19‑28 March (0844 800 1110, www.rsc.org.uk).