by William Shakespeare
seen at the Barbican Theatre on 6 January 2018
Part of the RSC's Rome MMXVII season, this play is directed by Iqbal Khan and features Josette Simon as Cleopatra, Antony Byrne as Mark Antony, Ben Allen as Octavius Caesar and Andre Woodall as Enobarbus. It is interesting, but in the event justified, that the characters common to both Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra - namely, Antony himself and the other triumvirs Octavius and Lepidus - are played by different actors in the two productions, though many of the supporting cast appear in both.
Robert Innes Hopkins designed both productions, giving a sense of visual unity while expanding the palette, as it were, to include the Egyptian scenes, their general sensuousness signified by a large draped curtain to offset the sterner vertical and horizontal lines of Rome, and the occasional appearance of large cat statues. But, with a different director, even if the visual presentation was broadly related, the overall approach was inevitably different, most notably in the sound world in which the brass and percussion of the earlier play are here supplemented by (electric) guitar and saxaphone.
The plays are not, of course, intended as a formal sequence. Political and military matters dominate in both, but the almost exclusively masculine world of Julius Caesar is richly complicated by the fatally entrancing femininity of Cleopatra and the threat that the allegedly licentious kingdom of Egypt poses to the straitlaced Romans. The private sphere and the public are at loggerheads in Antony and Cleopatra as much as Egypt and Rome are; Antony stands - and falls - uneasily between the claims of passion and love advanced by Cleopatra and the political single-mindedness of Octavius Caesar, his young and ultimately triumphant military rival.
The play is complex, with diverse scenes apparently unrelated and impressionistic. Even with historical events telescoped and simplified there is a great deal to be conveyed in terms of narrative, to say nothing of revealing character and personal conflict. This production managed the fluidity well, and the mercurial quality of Cleopatra's behaviour was wonderfully conveyed by Josette Simon as she adopted and discarded emotions at lightning speed; it is almost impossible to know what she really thinks and feels much of the time. Antony's energy, giving rise to immediate enthusiasms and disrupting any possiblity of strategic political thought, was well expressed by Antony Byrne, but perhaps the ultimate spark of attraction between the two characters was missing in the interplay between the two actors.
On the other hand, the chilling efficiency of Octavius Caesar's ambition was underplayed by Ben Allen. Instead we had a brother apparently unmanned by the departure of his sister, where one might have expected a more calculated approach to Octavia's predicament. At the pivotal meeting with Pompey, insufficient emphasis was placed on Octavius's revulsion from the drunken proceedings, so it was perilously easy to lose sight of him among the crowd of eager drinkers.
A number of the minor characters were dispensed with, their parts redistributed among the remainder. However, some of the secondary stories still lacked distinctive elucidation, even though the overall dramatic arc of the play was very effectively maintained throughout.
The conflict of loyalties which tears Antony apart, and the agility of Cleopatra's manoeuvres which nonetheless fails to take full account of their impact on others, combine fatefully to lead to their destruction, and this is all clear to the audience. Shakespeare's daring treatment of Antony's suicide, rendered both ghastly and comic by its protracted nature, was well contrasted with the ritua nature of Cleopatra's demise, in which she startlingly revealed a shaven head beneath what was only now shown to be a wig, before being enfolded by the rich Pharaonic robes which asserted her queenliness. Theatricality has its role in triumphing over naked political ambition.
On the other hand, the chilling efficiency of Octavius Caesar's ambition was underplayed by Ben Allen. Instead we had a brother apparently unmanned by the departure of his sister, where one might have expected a more calculated approach to Octavia's predicament. At the pivotal meeting with Pompey, insufficient emphasis was placed on Octavius's revulsion from the drunken proceedings, so it was perilously easy to lose sight of him among the crowd of eager drinkers.
A number of the minor characters were dispensed with, their parts redistributed among the remainder. However, some of the secondary stories still lacked distinctive elucidation, even though the overall dramatic arc of the play was very effectively maintained throughout.
The conflict of loyalties which tears Antony apart, and the agility of Cleopatra's manoeuvres which nonetheless fails to take full account of their impact on others, combine fatefully to lead to their destruction, and this is all clear to the audience. Shakespeare's daring treatment of Antony's suicide, rendered both ghastly and comic by its protracted nature, was well contrasted with the ritua nature of Cleopatra's demise, in which she startlingly revealed a shaven head beneath what was only now shown to be a wig, before being enfolded by the rich Pharaonic robes which asserted her queenliness. Theatricality has its role in triumphing over naked political ambition.
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