RSC Live: Antony and Cleopatra

It does pain me to say that, because 'Antony and Cleopatra' is a great, passion-filled play. It is long and one of Shakespeare's wordiest plays, but it has a strong emotionally powerful story, two of Shakespeare's most iconic titular characters and the text is some of his most beautiful. Also hold the Royal Shakespeare company in very high regard, while their filmed live streamings in the past decade have varied in overall quality the good things in every one of them have been outstanding and the standard of many have been high.

Sadly the standard of this production is rather uneven and not of a high overall standard. It is not terrible, and there are aspects that are executed very well indeed. Those plus points also being quite significant. The production sadly also has a number of major flaws, major enough to make what could have been a searing production of 'Antony and Cleopatra' at the end of the day a tepid one with moments of excellence. Which is a real shame.

Am going to start with the good things. Did like the main set with the giant cats a lot, imposing and sumptuous as well as cleverly used. The music is suitably exotic and is quite haunting. The video directing has an intimacy that makes one feel like they are there, that's how vivid the atmosphere is from seeing how it's filmed. Wasn't crazy about the staging on the whole, the two titular death scenes are handled beautifully, one uncompromising and the other almost sensual.

There are a few good performances. My favourite performance was actually Ben Allen as Octavious, a very intelligent and nuanced portrayal with a great understanding and delivery of the text. Antony Byrne also on the whole does a good job as Antony, bullish on occasion and not always at ease as a lover but very commanding and bravura when in authority as a soldier and his reaction on hearing of Cleopatra's death was moving. Charmian is very good too.

Didn't actually know what to make of Josette Simon's Cleopatra personally. She is tempestuous, elegant, sensual and suitably manipulative, plus she has a good deal of energy, so there is a lot to like about her portrayal. The way she is made to speak at points though is off putting, too childish and affected and makes Cleopatra almost too simpering. She and Byrne's chemistry doesn't have enough testoterone or passion, part of it being down to Byrne looking ill at ease at times with her.

Other than the aforementioned set, this 'Antony and Cleopatra' does not look appealing. Much of it looks too drab and sparse and there is nothing exotic or elegant about the costumes, Cleopatra's clothes are more bargain sale quality than glamorous. The staging is what drags the production down. There is nothing really to be offended by, apart from the truly amateurish and unintentionally comical sea battle, and it tries to be respectful to the text and such.

The problem is that in doing so it comes over as too safe and undistinguished, with no insightful touches to make it stand out and no risk-taking. The chemistry between the actors doesn't ignite enough, especially the one that matters most, and can be static and emotionally it just felt rather bland. Pace-wise it does tend to ramble, with so little that's fresh it makes an already wordy play even more wordy. The dialogue could have been enunciated clearer in spots. Andrew Woodall also sadly didn't work for me at all as Enobarbus, in most productions seen of 'Antony and Cleopatra' Enobarbus has been one of the better acted characters. For my tastes, Woodall was too rough and too tetchy for a quite noble and nuanced character that has one of the play's most moving moments, the burnished barge speech, that here is delivered too aggressively (not like Woodall usually).

In conclusion, has its moments but disappointing. 5/10.

This review is based on the Blu-ray edition.

I have both good and bad things to say about this production. And while the bad things might take up the most space in this review, that doesn't mean there's more bad than good in this version of this play. It just means that it's often easier to express a critical view, and to put one's finger on particular points.

My default rating of a good theatrical production that does what it's supposed to do - keeps me entertained and impressed - is 8 stars out of 10. If it's pretty good, but causes my mind to wander and perhaps a yawn or two to emerge, it's down to 7. "Antony and Cleopatra" is not a grateful play to stage. It's complex, and easily gets over-long if nothing special is done to keep it interesting.

Let me start with the good things. The most distinctive actors were those playing Cleopatra, Enobarbus, Charmian and Pompey. Josette Simon's animated Cleopatra is to be singled out as the greatest performance. I have heard some critics (even feminist ones) say that they don't like how passion-driven Simon's Cleopatra is, but those critics of course don't understand what this play is essentially about. Cleopatra's character is herself an actor; much of her "passion" is playing pretend, staging herself as a certain persona, and revelling in it. In this sense she is one of the most self-aware characters in Shakespeare. Histrionic, yes, but always with thought, intention and strategy behind it. So, in short, Simon's portrayal of Cleopatra is very true to the character; more so, even, than those of many other actresses, whose performances tend to be more subdued. Animation, movement and changeability, however, are what brings Shakespeare's Cleopatra to life, and Josette Simon has created a very impressive version of her, worthy of the time-honored RSC.

As for the rest of the play, I must confess to being rather less satisfied. Perhaps the biggest problem with this production - something that has dogged the RSC in recent years (with notable exceptions) - was that it was too traditional for comfort. It was so traditional that it got boring. Three hours of a fairly bare stage with actors in fairly accurate period costumes? I nearly nodded off. Something has got to be done to keep a play like this interesting. Make it funnier, crazier, anachronistic; add something a bit modern. Outrageous costumes, for instance. And for God's sake, add some color to the brown wooden stage! 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. 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 2015 version of "The Merchant of Venice" with Patsy Ferran). I don't know why. Is it the director's fault? Or the artistic director's? Or something else? 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. Try something new. Anything. It's very sure to be an improvement.