Antony and Cleopatra: A Dream of Passion

Robert Chevara, adapted from the play by William Shakespeare
Jonny Woo, in association with The Divine
The Divine, Dalston

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Antony and Cleopatra: A Dream of Passion

This is my space, declares Shakespeare’s Antony, as he chooses passion for Cleopatra over reasoned duty, with contemporary audiences seemingly having no trouble in imagining the spaces between decadent Egypt and military Rome.

In this new production, conceived and directed by renowned theatre writer / director Robert Chevara, space is confined to a dimly-lit small area within The Divine (a newish Dalston venue) designed to emulate a "queer basement club" (as the notes describe it) that we might find in Berlin.

Blue neon lights illuminate dark corners that suggest drugs, flirting and sex—very much in line with the play’s original themes of lust and the need for escapism, as in Cleopatra’s request for her sleepy syrups to ease the time during Antony’s absence.

A big difference here is that Shakespeare’s text of over three and a half hours is adeptly reduced to just seventy minutes; and that we have an adult, all-male cast of varying maturity (unlike the boys-playing-women that the Elizabethan public stage demanded).

The selected passages eschew most of the military action, then, and are cherry-picked to focus on the tragic attraction between Antony (William McGeough) and Cleopatra (Jonny Woo), assisted by Cleopatra’s maid Charmian (Alexis Gregory) and Jonathan Blake’s Dolabella, an amalgamation of several Roman characters.

Lines are spoken with force, clarity and eloquence and are punctuated at opportune moments with forays from the cast into song, cabaret-style, with Jonny Woo’s skill as a drag artiste coming to the fore in particular with a powerful voice that hits the back of the room.

Focus falls too on the Egyptian Queen’s dread of ageing and of competition for Antony’s affections with the younger Octavia (unseen) in a scene played with fine comic timing and pathos in that, today, we continue to fear the invisibility that age can bring.

In this regard, Jonathan Blake’s presence at age 75 is a welcome note that age need not wither us; and is a reminder of his trailblazing life and the freedoms he helped to establish (as Dominic West’s portrayal in the film Pride memorialises).

The cast have fun with Shakespeare’s repetitions of "queen" and "I would I had thy inches"—but then, original audiences loved a double meaning and a pun, especially a naughty one. Finishing on a joyous dance (albeit in strobe lighting) seems a paean to original staging.

So, it is not necessary to know the original text. Those who do can easily fill in any gaps. For those that don’t, it might be a short introduction to Shakespeare’s play. For others, it could be great night of camp with seventeenth-century language. For this reviewer, new to a gay venue, it felt like a space of kind and safe acceptance. And with Shakespeare, there is space for everyone.

Reviewer: Anita-Marguerite Butler

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