Antony and Cleopatra. Part 2 (Theatre Royal Newcastle, 15th October 2010)

On the 15th October matinée, Katy Stephens (text in hand) took on the role of Cleopatra in the RSC Antony and Cleopatra when Kathryn Hunter ‘was indisposed’.  Though for most of the scenes Katy Stephens held the book in her hand, she only looked at the script now and again to remind herself of  odd lines. I felt that Katy Stephens’ portrayal of  Cleopatra was much more emotional than Kathryn Hunter’s and she didn’t play the comedy as much.  On Antony’s death there were tears in her eyes.  At times Katy Stephens was a little uncomfortable in the way she stood.  However, watching her demonstrated that two different approaches to a character can work within the same production.  I felt there was certainly a lot of chemistry between Stephen’s Cleopatra and Darrell D’Silva’s Antony.

The shuffle that inevitably comes from an understudy taking on a key role resulted in some real treats.  My favourite was Greg Hicks taking on the role of the messenger Thidias. It was a lovely performance, and Hicks seemed to revel in the part, flirting with Cleopatra and taking notes in Rome with great relish.  Tunji Kasim  (normally Mardian) gave a very sound performance as Eros and I felt that this was better casting than the eunuch and even Edmund.

There were a couple of moments that didn’t seem to go to plan.  At one point Alexas was not on stage when he was asked to find out information from the messenger and the gun did not go off when Cleopatra shot at the messenger.  Maybe the safety catch was still on or because Katy Stephens hadn’t practised that much they didn’t want to take the risk.

When an understudy takes on a role, there is a bit of observing the blocking and some mimicking of the way lines are said by the original actor.  On the other hand, there is also a sense of the actor trying to bring their interpretation to the role.  The RSC policy is for the ensemble to understudy other parts. It’s enormous undertaking to understudy Cleopatra as well as play Regan and Rosalind.  In the past two years I have seen Ed Bennett’s Hamlet, Mariah Gale’s Rosalind, and Dyfan Dwyfor’s Romeo. I have also seen the understudy performance of Twelfth Night.  What the understudy does is give a very different perspective of a role in a production.  For example, I thought that Dyfan Dwyfor’s Romeo was much measured and quieter than Sam Troughton’s.  I was really pleased to see Katy Stephens play Cleopatra and in future she may get the opportunity to really make the part her own.

My review of the production with Kathryn Hunter

Julie Raby2 Comments

Antony and Cleopatra, Part 1 (The Courtyard Theatre, Theatre Royal Newcastle May to October 2010)

When I saw Antony and Cleopatra in Stratford, I felt that Artistic Director, Michael Boyd’s vision of  the RSC ensemble and how it should be put into reality seemed to come to fruition in the production. The house lights are up for most of the production creating a real awareness of the audience watching.  The vomitaria are used a lot for entrances and exits.  Soldiers launched themselves from the circle into battle.  Actors who are experienced, and who have been cast in lead roles in other productions, were playing smaller parts.  These included Greg Hicks as the Soothsayer and Katy Stephens as a fascinating Eros who delights in the partying  and ends up firmly tied up in the tragedy.

The production starts with the dimming of the house lights and Antony and Cleopatra chasing each other onto the stage. Shifting the focus moves straight onto Antony and Cleopatra from the very beginning.  The loss of the Roman frame right at the start of the production changes the perspective of the scene.  Though the Romans do appear straight after to comment on the two lovers, this slight amendement, presents Antony and Cleopatra directly to the audience, rather than through the Roman eyes.  This is important because many of the negative comments about Cleopatra are from the mouths of the Romans, and by placing Antony and Cleopatra directly in the spotlight the audience are asked to judge them for themselves. The staging of the opening scene reminds me that in their most private moments, Antony and Cleopatra are never alone. We are watching as the Romans and the Egyptian court observe the fickleness and attraction of this relationship and by lighting the audience the public nature of the events is emphasised by widening the on stage audience to us.

I felt that the chemistry between Kathryn Hunter’s Cleopatra and Darrell D’Silva’s  Antony has become more evident as the production has developed over the past few months.  Together they highlight that this is the story of two older people who find each other very sexy, and can’t concentrate on anything but each other.  Just watch Enrobarbus’s (Brian Doherty)  reaction to Agrippa’s  (Geoffrey Freshwater) declaration that Antony should marry Octavia and hear his emphatic ‘never’ at the suggestion that Antony will now leave Cleopatra, to know how much Antony is really tied to his Egyptian queen.

The cigar smoking Antony is not at home in either Rome of Egypt.  He clearly loves the party and in this production Bacchus is his god.  Like the other Romans, he wears a suit in Rome but he looks very uncomfortable in it, so when he’s drinking on Pompey’s ship, he commands the scene wearing his little sailor hat to undermine the formality.  When he is in Egypt wearing his army uniform, he is the great soldier who can no longer win the battles.  His death is both tragic and comic at the same time.  I could weep when Eros kills himself instead of stab the dishonoured Antony, but feel frustrated that Antony cannot even kill himself.  In winching his dying bulk up to Cleopatra’s monument, the scene becomes comic.

Kathryn Hunter is not a stereotypical Cleopatra. She’s doesn’t try to mimic the  Elizabeth Taylor and Vivien Leigh view of Cleopatra.  As a small actress she uses her physical appearance to great effect.  Her moods are as changeable as her clothes, but her intelligence and quick wit come over well.  I like the accent and  her lines are spoken with passion and energy. Not one line is underplayed.  .

It’s not just Kathryn Hunter and Darrell D’Silva that give strong performances in this production.  Their love affair is played out against a background of war and politics which span the ancient world and it is the very solid performances from the rest of the cast, and the excellent blocking of scenes, that make this production work so well.

The scene changes are cleverly thought through as they alternates between Egypt and Rome.  The moment when it looked like Pompey was pointing his gun at Caesar as the scene shifted from one place to another was brilliant.  The drinking scene taking place on Pompey’s ship is wonderfully staged, including dimming the lights and focusing on Menas as he reveals his murderous plot to Pompey.  Clarence Smith brings Pompey alive and we really feel he is so volatile and he could easily explode and break his pact with the three Romans  at any time.  The production also finds a solution to how do you stage a battle on stage?  The dance with the paper ships is very effective way of doing this.

Sandy Neilson’s Lepidus is unable to hold his drink and staggers and slurs in the drinking scene.  He delights at the crocodile story.  How strange the crocodile would have sounded to the Elizabethans?  The night on Pompey’s ship is the start of  his embarrassing downfall, which was exemplified as he was  placed in the spotlight above the stage the doors slowly closing on his to signal his execution.

John Mackay used his height to great effect when playing Octavius Caesar, making him seem uncomfortable in company and often having to lower his head as he entered centre stage.   He is emotional at the loss of his sister and unable to take his drink.  At the end of the play he is the sole ruler of the world.   Changing from the black polar neck to shirt and tie showed that even in his supposedly private moments he was still very self-aware of his image.  As an audience we are supposed to think that his feelings for Octavia is more than brotherly.  he displays fury at Antony’s betrayal and he recounts the messengers stories of Antony’s behaviours  in Egypt with great clarity and anger. 

Paul Hamilton’s messenger contributes to one of the highlights of the production.  Terrified of the knife wielding, gun firing Cleopatra, he sticks to his text the best way he can.  His determination to give his message shows that there is an etiquette around messengers and that’s why the beating of  Thidias later in the play is brutal and humiliating .

I’m always amazed by Phillip Edgerley’s character acting and that he can look so different.  His  Menas and his  Proculeius were like chalk cheese – the ruffian pirate and the smart  Roman diplomat.

One thing I find a little confusing was Sophie Russell  doubling up as Octavia and a Roman soldier.  Clearly this wasn’t intended to mean Octavia was alos a Roman soldier, but could be taken that way.

I saw this production in Stratford and Newcastle and like the other long ensemble productions it has benefited from its development through time.  I really sat on the fence when it came to saying whether I liked or not.  I was unsure whether I found it engaging or not, because I had such mixed feelings about it.  However, every time I saw it, I went away thinking a lot about it.  I think now I’m hooked.  What felt, at first, like a slow bland first half has speeded up and the episodic nature of the play in its shifts between Rome and Egypt are highlighted to great effect.

My next blog discusses the matinée performance on Saturday 15th October when Katy Stephens played Cleopatra.

Reviews and Previews

RSC Antony and Cleopatra in The Times
RSC Antony and Cleopatra in Evening Standard
The Stage review of RSC Antony and Cleopatra
RSC Antony and Cleopatra in The Guardian
Antony and Cleopatra in the Observer (int with Kathryn Hunter)
Antony and Cleopatra in the FT
RSC Antony and Cleopatra Press Night delayed (The Stage)
RSC’s Antony and Cleopatra in The Telegraph
http://www.whatsonstage.com/reviews/theatre/london/E8831273655592/Antony+%26+Cleopatra+%28RSC%29.htm

Julie Raby3 Comments

King Lear (RSC, The Courtyard Theatre, w/c 1st March 2010)

In the episode ‘George’s Last Ride’ from the seminal television drama Boys from the Blackstuff, Chrissy (Michael Angelis) pushes George (Peter Kerrigan) in his wheelchair through the derelict landscape of the industrial dock area of Liverpool. The predominance of greys in the scene create a sense of despair and pessimism. As Chrissy helps George stand for the last time, George declares, “I can’t believe that there is no hope. I can’t”. In watching David Farr’s King Lear, I was reminded of George, a man driven to the absolute edge of despair, and a society which has crumbled around him.

As the audience enter the dark auditorium at the Courtyard Theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear, they hear the clanging and banging in the background of machinery at work. The set has an industrial feel as if it had been situated inside an old deserted factory. High up are broken windows with the sun streaking through the dirt engrained on the glass. There’s a bell and a pulley prominently placed. Edgar (Charles Aitkin) sits on the stage staring outwards in stunned horror.

Like his design for last season’s The Winter’s Tale, Jon Bauber’s set for this production is another set which disintegrates around us, but unlike the The Winter’s Tale set, it is fragmented and shattered to start with. Throughout the production, the lights fizz and crackle as if an insect has flown into them. The sound is sometimes like that moment when the strip lighting flickers as it struggles to power on. Edmund (Tunjim Kasim) seems able to control the lights, as did Feste in Greg Doran’s production of Twelfth Night, but this is not for humorous effect, it is rather sinister. In the storm scene, Lear stands centre stage water streams down over (and under) him and as the winds blow the set crashes around him.

David Farr’s production merges different periods in time. Lear and Kent are presented as medieval knights, and in contrast the Gloucester family are in Edwardian dress. I wasn’t clear why this was, but it made me think about possible reasons for this creative decision. Is it to suggest that King Lear deals with a sweep of British history? Are we being asked to comment on the relationship between the two periods depicted through costume? Possibly the set has been designed to make us think about the decline of the industrial revolution and that we are hurtling towards the first world war. I wondered if we were meant to think that the Gloucester family are the intellects and Lear is the warrior. I felt these shifts in time were very in keeping to the RSC current approach in setting productions in no particular time or place such as the current RSC’s As You Like It that moves through time ending up in the contemporary dress. I really like the experiments with time and setting, because it moves beyond those attempts to make comparisons between Shakespeare’s plays and specific historical moments without being clumsy about the idea of the plays being universal.

What I found interesting about this production was that there were set pieces that looked like images captured in paintings, such as the way the court organised themselves for Lear’s entrance at the beginning of the play. There was a series of repeated images as well. One of them is the image of the three sisters on stage. In the first scene, Goneril and Regan kneel and Cordelia is still stood on her soap box as if she has been placed on a pedestal and bathed in light. Towards the end of the play the three sisters find themselves on stage at the same time reminding me of the moment Cordelia responds to Lear with her ‘nothing’.

Hicks’ plays Lear with a sense of humour in parts. In the first scene he wrong foots the court who are all lined up expecting him to enter centre stage, and he enters from the vomitorium cackling with glee. At moments he mimics age, which has some irony as this is what he is to become so soon. It must be be exhausting, playing all Lear’s moods. Hicks is able to play the transition from warrior to fragile old man brilliantly. His Lear is petulant and boisterous. He abuses his power, and it is as if as King he thinks he can do anything he likes. As I was watching Greg Hicks as Lear, I couldn’t help making connections between his portrayal of Leontes in The Winter’s Tale and his King Lear. In this production Kelly Hunter’s Goneril stares with stunned shock at Lear as if she can’t believe how far he will go. It was the kind of reaction that Hermione has when watching Leontes rage in his jealousy. Both plays have worlds which are turned upside down and daughters are banished into wilderness. I like the ways Hicks uses the physical body to reflect his emotional strain. As Hicks transforms into a crumpled old man, I was reminded of the image int he second half of The Winter’s Tale, when the scene returns to Sicilia and Leontes is sat in the dark at the back of the stage.

There are some stunning performances in this production. Katy Stephens and Kelly Hunter as Regan and Goneril were both thoughtful and powerful portrayals of the two sisters. Darrell D’Silva’s Kent was spectacular. He is an energetic Kent fighting for his friend and was a lovely contrast to Gloucester. The performance which has stuck in my mind is Kathryn Hunter’s Fool is a curious piece of work. She plays the role as a vulnerable child, and she plays the role as androgynous. This boy/woman Fool just can’t stop himself from speaking, as if lacking any control over his actions. The Fool pulls Lear’s hand from the fire, but just can’t seem to bring himself to take Lear away as if the obvious isn’t possible for him. I thought Kathryn Hunter’s expressions were wonderful and beguiling. It is an enormously poignant moment when the Fool hesitates and does not follow Lear. I felt that was a significant moment in this production in that Lear was truly alone without any followers at all.

Yes, this production is a little eclectic, but I found a lot in it to think about.

Reviews and Previews

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/mar/03/review-king-lear-…
King Lear in the Independent on Sunday
King Lear in The Evening Standard
WOS RSC King Lear
The Times review of King Lear
The Financial Times on RSC King Lear
King Lear in The Telegraph
Daily Mail on RSC King Lear
London Assurance and King Lear in IOS
Oxford Times on RSC King Lear
The Stage on RSC King Lear

Julie Raby5 Comments