The Tempest By William Shakespeare Music by Adam Gorgoni Directed by Patrick Bradford At the Loeb Mainstage Through May 3

IN 1609, A BRITISH merchant-ship bound for the New World foundered in a storm off the coast of the Bermudas, but the crew and bounty were magically spared. Taking the famous wreck of the Sea-Adventure and its miraculous outcome as his departure, Shakespeare wove his most topical, yet least earthbound drama, The Tempest.

Well, it seems the legendary storm has struck again, this time stranding a superior cast of actors in the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club's passable interpretation of the Bard's last play. The production has many worthwhile facets, including fine acting and an appealing original score. But the resultant show is something less than the sum of its well-played parts.

To be fair, director Patrick Bradford's Tempest is worth seeing for its first-rate performances. Eric Oleson is superb as the aging Gonzalo, shuffling and pontificating with perfect ease. Nick Lawrence pulls off a highly credible Prospero; Naama Potok and Andrew Sullivan are convincing as the youthful lovers Miranda and Ferdinand.

What makes the play memorable, though, is the virtuoso acting of Ben Evett as Ariel and Kerrick Johnson as Caliban, the sorceror Prospero's two slaves. Ariel and Caliban are pivotal figures, representing the opposing realms of Air and Earth that lie at the heart of Shakespeare's thematic dilemma. And in this production, Evett and Johnson can hardly do wrong, expertly treading the line between man and spirit that make these two of Shakespeare's more difficult roles.

In his most adventurous device, Bradford clothes Evett in green body make-up and transparent loincloth, and has him dart around the stage, sometimes quickly, sometimes stroking the air with slow-motion body gestures to create the impression of being lighter-than-air. The effect works; Evett manages to deliver some momentous dialogue with astonishing pungency, all the while balancing his taut figure in the pose of a Greek discus thrower.

The director's decisions are more questionable elsewhere. Although Bradford has interestingly restructured the Loeb stage to allow for the play's beachfront scenes, the set and costume design for this show is surprisingly bland. The strange dance numbers, though called for by Shakespeare's script, are less than entirely successful.

SEVERAL PROBLEMS MAR Bradford's approach to the text. Why, for instance, has he not cut the distracting subplots often excluded in contemporary productions--such as the hackneyed drinking scenes between Caliban and minor characters Trinculo and Stephano, or the awkwardly staged scene in which the goddesses Iris, Ceres and Juno appear? These types of passages have little charm and distract the audience from the more important issues of the play. Bradford could have populated his huge stage in other ways.

Fidelity to the text is indeed the trademark of this Tempest, but it makes the play too slow and too long. Shakespeare's shortest play should be enchanting, like one of Prospero's spells; as it is, Bradford's production seems longer than its lengthy three hour running time. The problem is compounded by the fact that the actors speak their lines very slowly, as if too reverent of Shakespeare's poetry.

This Tempest clearly deserves attention. Anchored by some of the best acting to walk across the planks of the mainstage this year, it is an able effort at a formidable play.