NOT A PERFECT STORM, BUT IT SURE MOVES.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic

ANYTIME A COMPANY is noticeably laboring in the service of Shakespeare, it's usually for heavy comedic purposes ... or else to stage a bunch of major battles.

``The Tempest,'' Shakespeare's late romance with spirits, fairies and magic, doesn't necessarily need all the arty physical labor and gymnastic antics that Andrew Tsao's cast brings to East West Players' production.

Then again, unless you're a glutton for distraction-free poetic language, Tsao's ``Tempest'' shouldn't offend. Heaven knows, at 90 acrobatic minutes, the show is anything but dull.

We get to watch the seven actors on stage before the play begins, as they stretch, vocalize and group hug. When the action begins, things get physical awfully quickly. Prospero appears to have made a sex slave out of his spirit servant Ariel, and his virginal daughter Miranda all but jumps her love interest, Ferdinand. Early in the production, the cast acts out some of the more lyrical back story. Thankfully, they leave out Caliban's attempted rape of Miranda.

Yeah, yeah, I know this is supposed to be a ``hip, young and sexy'' ``Tempest,'' a description that instantly raises a red flag. Hip, Tsao's cast is, and attractive. The shortening of the play and inventive doubling of parts, however, may spell confusion for anybody who doesn't know ``The Tempest.'' (``Hold it, how come the hottie in the midriff loves the cute guy except when he becomes ugly by crouching down and changing his voice? Oh, I get it. Different character.'')

To clear the fog, the spirit Ariel and Miranda are both played by Gwendoline Yeo. One character wears a pony tail. Another lets her hair down and slips on a sequined robe. Matthew Yang King plays both Prospero's deformed slave Caliban and Ferdinand. Ogie Zulueta and Trieu Tran double as the royal plotters Sebastian and Antonio and the drunken conspirators Trinculo and Stephano.

Daniel Dae Kim, as young a Prospero as you're likely to find outside a college campus, leans heavily on the character's guilt and malevolence. Here's a wizard you clearly don't want to mess with, but who is also haunted by the effects of the very magic he puts to use.

In one particularly effective sequence, Prospero watches Miranda and Ferdinand's wedding dance and experiences a violent vision of Caliban and Ariel - a reminder that he still has unfinished business. The Yeo and King double casting make this possible. Tsao's staging makes the effect sing. The production could probably use more purposeful effects in this vein rather than noise and physicality simply for the sake of getting our attention.

Practically everybody is available for spirit duty in one form or another, whether scaling ropes or spider-weblike netting, tumbling or contorting. As imagined by Victoria Petrovich, Prospero's island is a couple of ramps and a scaffolding with the occasional rug or prop.

The script trim means a lot of the spirits have been eliminated. Prospero - bless his storm-raising soul - remains as long-winded as ever. Some things about ``The Tempest'' clearly will never change.

THE TEMPEST - Two and one half stars

Where: East West Players, Union Center for the Arts, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles 

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; through Dec. 15.

Tickets: $25 to $30. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: Spicy doings on a magical island, courtesy of a hard-working seven person cast.

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Photo:

Matthew Yang King becomes caught in ``The Tempest'' at East West Players.