BWW Reviews: ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, Shakespeare's Globe, May 29 2014

With a blaze of Bollywoodesque drumming eunuchs and dancing girls, we're introduced to the beguiling Otherness of Egypt's Court - a kind of Classical Playboy Mansion. Mark Antony (Clive Wood appropriately attired in a Hugh Hefner-style silk dressing gown) prefers the revelries hosted by his lover, Queen Cleopatra (Eve Best, coquettish, clever and cruel), to the grim statecraft required of him in Rome. But when pirates pinch at the bloated Empire's extremities and the Triumvirate that saw off Julius Caesar fractures when Lepidus grows weaker and Octavius (Jolyon Coy, sourly taking care of business) gets bitten by the Caesar family's ambition bug, duty calls and Egypt's Queen must become ally as well as lover.

Antony and Cleopatra (at Shakespeare's Globe until 24 August) continually flits between opposites - personal and political; East and West; Man and Woman - counterpoints that give the play a very contemporary vibe in this Age of Austerity. It also shows that glamorous Royals distracting the populace while being unsure of their own minds were causing problems long before Martin Bashir interviewed Princess Diana.

Ms Best doesn't waste time peering through her fringe though - her Cleopatra is much more of a Sally Bowles figure, a force of nature, as quick as a wit as she is imaginative as a lover. She dominates the action, reposed on a bed one moment, flying in fury the next, then pantomiming her disdain for Antony's new wife, amusing herself and her attendants. Even the huge Globe stage cannot contain her, as she ventures into the audience to find new men with whom to flirt. Cleopatra does terrible things militarily, undermining Antony as she turns her ships back to port, but his anger soon dissipates as love and lust crowd out even the most momentous matters of warfare. We can all see how.

Mr Wood, stocky and still physically imposing, but tiring, does reveal the cunning, single-minded younger Antony who played Brutus like a violin on his rise to power. But there's an impatience in his dealings with his new wife, dreary, much-misused Octavia, that shows how temptation has changed him, most evident in his failed suicide bid - this from a man tough enough to eat tree bark on campaign with his army.

These two huge performances don't leave much room for the other actors, but there's a couple of lovely cameos from Sirine Saba as Cleopatra's attendant (almost as alluring as her Queen) and Phil Daniels as Enobarbus, delivering the most comprehensive (and celebrated) description of Cleopatra's transcendent beauty.

Shakespeare's Globe itself is an extraordinary participant in the entertainment, but it's chilly and the second half (as is often the case with Shakespeare) feels longer than it needs to be, as tragedy supplants the comedy of much that went earlier - so wrap up warm and consider a hip flask. You'll be rewarded by splendid performances and an eerily contemporary lesson about how even the most alpha-male of alpha males can be ruled by a woman's charms, skilfully and ruthlessly deployed.

Photo credit - Manuel Harlan

To post a comment, you must register and login.