Antony and Cleopatra

Synopsis

Antony and Cleopatra tells of the overwhelming passions of two magnetic personalities who hold the destiny of a third of the world in their hands. Antony is a warrior and a lover, torn between his military duties and the erotic charms of the sensuous Egyptian court. At the heart is Cleopatra. "Serpent of old Nile", storym and unpredictable. Their love eventually triumphs with their noble deaths, but not before all else is lost.

Our Review:

16 January 2007

The transfer of Gregory Doran’s production from the Swan has been long awaited. And the London first-night audience was not to be disappointed as Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter both give peerless performances as the doomed lovers. However, Doran doesn’t neglect the political machinations at the heart of the play and he delivers a heady mix of the political and the personal, while also drawing out more comedy than usual.

Stewart’s love-sick, fawning Antony is completely captivated by Walter’s sensuous but capricious queen, but there’s also a real sense that this is an Antony who still hungers to be a soldier and would easily settle for a night of hard drinking with the boys and a hard bed. Stewart brilliantly captures the way Antony is torn between his sexual desire and his military hunger.

But what also sets the production alight is the relationship between Octavius and Antony. John Hopkins’ twitchy, neurotic Caesar cannot disguise his envy of the virile, charis...

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Latest User Review

194.82.244.129) - 24 January 2007:

I found this interpretation of the play refreshing. Rather than playing it as a conventional love story, this production managed to get into the heart of the matter, where politics and love do not always see eye to eye: where Cleopatra, a political animal at heart, is willing to sacrifice her love for the survival of her nation whereas Antony was willing to sacrifice his career for love. Exactly the opposite of what you'd expect from an Egyptian and a Roman, resepctively. That is what made this play do interesting for me... There was a constant tension between what was "felt" and what was "done". With tremendous performances all around and beautiful set and costumes, this was an evening of pure but thought-provoking delight....

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