Singapore actor Faizal Abdullah plays The Tempest’s Caliban at London’s Shakespeare’s Globe
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Faizal Abdullah (right) with castmate Sophie Steer during rehearsals for The Tempest.
PHOTO: MARC BRENNER
- Singaporean actor Faizal Abdullah stars as Caliban in Shakespeare's Globe's The Tempest, which runs from January 17 to April 12.
- Faizal connects Caliban's experience of identity displacement to his own, aiming to portray him as a complex person reclaiming agency, not merely a monster.
- Faizal sees his casting as vindication of his and his wife's sacrifices, viewing it not as a peak, but as continued progress in his theatre journey.
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SINGAPORE – London-based Singapore actor Faizal Abdullah takes on the biggest role of his career at London’s Shakespeare’s Globe theatre as enslaved beast-man Caliban.
When the run of William Shakespeare’s tale of magical shipwreck, revenge and colonisation The Tempest begins on Jan 17, he joins a small handful of other Singapore theatre actors including Anjana Vasan and Wendy Kweh, who have channelled the words of the Bard at the storied venue.
Directed by British theatremaker Tim Crouch, the show is on till April 12.
Faizal, 41, tells The Straits Times this is a significant milestone: “In terms of scale and ambition, the size of the production, the length of the run, this is the biggest role I’ve taken so far.”
The Tempest plays in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, which is the indoor performance space of the Globe complex. Lit by over 100 beeswax candles, it is modelled after the chiaroscuro oak theatres of Shakespeare’s London and opened in 2014.
The current Globe complex is a modern reconstruction, 230m from the site of the burnt-down 1599 original. For theatremakers, it is hallowed ground.
Faizal, who has pursued theatre with his wife Khai Ramli in London since 2018, says he had about a week to prepare for auditions, which felt “chill, grounded and generous”.
In 2023, he had premiered an identity play
This same wrangling with identity informs his interpretation of Caliban. “Caliban is the native of the island, its original inhabitant, and his world is changed when Prospero and Miranda arrive. That experience of having your identity, your place and your sense of belonging reshaped by someone else’s power is something I resonated with.”
He adds: “I respond to Caliban as someone who is not inherently a monster, but made to be one. He’s labelled, othered and defined through a colonial gaze. Caliban’s anger, his resistance, his tenderness and his grief all co-exist.
“Exploring that complexity feels political as well as deeply human. I’m looking forward to the challenge of giving voice to a Caliban who is not just a symbol, but a person – someone reclaiming space, agency and dignity – on his own terms.”
The “enormous sense of history” that comes with performing at the Globe will only heighten his performer’s exhilaration when the lights hit. More personally, his casting as Caliban is vindication of the work and sacrifice he and his wife have put in.
“I don’t see being part of The Tempest as a culmination or as having reached the top of the mountain. I still feel very much at the foot of it. The journey continues,” he adds.
Other Singapore actors who have performed at the Globe include Kweh, who was in British playwright Amanda Wilkin’s The Little Sob in 2019, and Indian-born Vasan, whose roles include Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016) and Cordelia in King Lear (2017).
Other Singaporeans lighting up London stages include Victoria Chen Nathania Ong,
Ong is reprising her role as Eponine for the musical’s 40th anniversary world tour, which makes its Singapore stop at Marina Bay Sands in March.
