Only the weather failed to deliver. The script of Shakespeare’s The Tempest specifies lashing rain and howling winds for the great opening scene.

With typical perversity, the weather gods delivered a perfect English summer’s afternoon for the local premiere of Southend Shakespeare Company’s 2011 outdoor production.

It was left to the director’s imagination and the Bard’s words to conjure up the storm that wrecks a noble ship on an island, all on the sunbathed lawns of Southchurch Park. Luckily, we were in good hands in both cases. Danielle Goodger, directing her first production for SSC, arrives as a storm of talent, bringing energy and invention to the play.

Although an airship makes a brief appearance, you don’t need too much in the way of scenery or lighting to conjure up that magic island, ruled over by the despotic wizard Prospero, where the wild spirit Ariel serves his every whim, and the exploited monster Caliban does the dirty work.

It’s worth shutting your eyes to let the poetry work unaided, but open them again pretty quickly to capture a succession of great staging ideas.

Prime among them is the notion of dividing the spirit Ariel into two, a male and female, who cascade in a balletic pas-de-deux. Hayley Evenett and John Oakes are fabulous. As the two halves of Ariel they are graceful, athletic and other-worldly.

The use of Bollywood-style dance and music for the chorus works so well you wonder whether Shakespeare intended it all along.

The Tempest ultimately hinges on the actor playing Prospero, and Andrew Sugden doesn’t disappoint.

He gets a real handle on the richly intricate character, a commanding presence on the surface, subject to self-doubt beneath the skin. Jeremy Hill is a splendid Caliban, grouchy, yet somehow quite sympathetic.

The show is stolen, however, by the low comedy team of Jim Carter and Chris Scott, as the drunken flotsam Trinculo and Stephano. They ensure the play is full of fun as well as magic.

All in all, the Tempest is a lovely experience, a complete summer holiday. Check the weather forecast first, though. There’s a danger it might stay sunny.

The Tempest Southend Shakespeare Company Dates and venues vary 01702 473172