Antony and Cleopatra (The RSC Shakespeare)

Antony and Cleopatra

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  • Antony and Cleopatra review at Royal Shakespeare Theatre – ‘lumbering and old-fashioned’
  • Julius Caesar/Antony and Cleopatra review – Rome truths from the RSC

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    Struggling to understand his place in a new world order he faces a stark choice. Submit, or rage against the injustice of his new reality. With his crown under threat from enemies both foreign and domestic, Henry IV prepares for war. Having deposed the previous king, he is only too aware how tenuous his position is, and the price to be paid if he falters. As his father prepares to defend his crown, Prince Hal is languishing in the taverns and brothels of London, revelling in the company of his friend, the notorious Sir John Falstaff.

    Antony and Cleopatra review at Royal Shakespeare Theatre – ‘lumbering and old-fashioned’

    With the onset of war, Hal and Falstaff are thrust into the brutal reality of the battlefield, where Hal must confront his responsibilities to family and throne. King Henry's health is failing as a second rebellion against his reign threatens to surface.

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    Intent on securing his legacy, he is uncertain that his son Hal is a worthy heir, believing him more concerned with earthly pleasures than the responsibility of rule. Sir John Falstaff is sent to the countryside to recruit fresh troops. Amongst the unwitting locals, opportunities for embezzlement and profiteering prove impossible to resist as Falstaff gleefully indulges in the business of lining his own pockets.

    As the King's health continues to worsen, Hal must choose between duty and loyalty to an old friend. Henry IV is dead and Hal is King. With England in a state of unrest, he must leave his rebellious youth behind, striving to gain the respect of his nobility and people.

    Is it so hard to hang up some pretty arrasses or bring on some green trees? Minimalism may be traditional, but it is also devoid of imagination and poeticness in fairness, they did have a big black Bast statue towards the end, and it was most refreshing! It does Shakespeare no favors to add nothing physical to the production.

    Today, the stage itself should also be an actor and should express and communicate something. But traditionalism is not necessarily a problem in itself. Traditional performances can be very good; they tend to provide a baseline standard for what such a classic should be like on stage. In fact, most theater purists would rather have a traditional performance than one of the more outrageous modern ones, which often cross over into overwrought silliness or nonsense. However, what I felt was lacking in this production was the full quality of the enunciation that we have come to expect from the RSC.

    I'm sure these actors probably worked as much with their enunciation as members of the RSC usually do, but for whatever reason the actors' palpable fascination with Shakespeare's words was not greatly in evidence here.

    Julius Caesar/Antony and Cleopatra review – Rome truths from the RSC

    They didn't taste the words while speaking them, and the beautiful and perfect accents that serve Shakespeare's language so well were less on display here than in many other RSC productions a fine recent example of how to do it is the RSC version of "The Merchant of Venice" with Patsy Ferran. I don't know why. Is it the director's fault?

    • Revelation:!
    • Other performances of Antony and Cleopatra;
    • Tickets | Antony and Cleopatra | Royal Shakespeare Company.
    • The Pitch.
    • The RSC Live Collection - Drama Online.

    Or the artistic director's? All I know is it could be better, and it has cost this production a star in my rating. To gain a higher rating, the RSC needs to start thinking out of the box and add some imagination and excitement to the proceedings, whether in the overall directing style or in the acting itself, which should be overflowing with enthusiasm for the language.

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    Our Favorite Trailers of the Week. Project L FF Release. Share this Rating Title: Antony and Cleopatra 6. The staging gathers power as it goes along, with the battle at sea being effectively presented through toy ships. Everything comes down to the two leads.

    Simon seems born to play Cleopatra and she gives us a hypnotically mercurial figure whose eroticism is expressed through a permanent restlessness. For my money, she puts on too many different voices, ranging from guttural power to Eartha Kitt croon. But Simon is excellent in the closing passages suggesting that Cleopatra is living out a fantasy of an idealised Antony. At the moment, Julius Caesar decisively shows why all roads lead to Rome.

    Topics Royal Shakespeare Company.