Derek Jarman's The Tempest
January 2, 2010
Cult favourite The Tempest (1979) was shot at Stoneleigh Abbey.
Director Derek Jarman and his crew spent a month filming an unconventional interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s last plays.
The film, which enjoyed praise from Bard scholars, starred punk actress Toyah Willcox.
Songwriter and actor Simon Turner was a driver for the movie.
He told film website www.400blows.co.uk: “When we were filming at Stoneleigh Abbey, we all moved into the abbey when we were shooting, so I think there were probably quite a few trips up and down to Coventry with vans, loads of stuff, getting the rooms ready for everybody. It was extraordinary.
“It was a big fun working party because you worked in the daytime and partied at night. but it was extraordinary because actually living on location, sort of in the undercroft, as it were, in the great hall, the house was completely a wreck, so they filmed in the house and they may have filmed a little bit in the gardens …
“We were living in sort of outhouses that barely had bathrooms. I mean there was running water, but it was pretty chaotic. There was a kitchen that everybody helped out in.”
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