In their staging of Antony and Cleopatra at the Globe, Blanche McIntyre and her associate director Charlotte Arrowsmith have emphasised that this is a confrontation between two very different cultures who speak different languages.
The Globe has a good record for encouraging diversity and inclusivity, and his production presents a mixed company of deaf and hearing actors. The deaf play the Egyptians, speaking in British Sign Language (BSL), while the Romans speak English. There are surtitles throughout, so theoretically, all sighted audience members can follow everything.
it presents the political story with clarity, with the fluctuating passions of its titular characters seeming less central. That may be partly the effect of what is at first an underwhelming Antony from John Hollingworth, though it is a performance that grows in stature. This is man in midlife with little of the charisma that gained him adherents, who can turn suddenly savage though in intimate moments, as he speaks in sign to Cleopatra, you sense a particular magic.
Nadia Nadarajah’s Cleopatra in contrast is full of energy, whether exuberant or angry, her outstretched arms making the BSL equivalent of a big noise. She terrifies the messenger bringing ill news from Rome (a brilliantly comic performance from Naseem Islam) but treats her devoted attendants with affection.
Among the Romans, there is a standout performance from Daniel Millar as Enobarbus, who bridges both worlds, while Gabriella Leon’s Octavia makes a formidable impression. The Egyptians make a lively lot, from William Grint’s tactful Soothsayer to Zoë McWhinney’s Charmian. Shakespeare’s jokes may not work with a modern audience, so it was intriguing see how often the Egyptian signing brought laughter from those who could read it, though the subtitle text wasn’t funny.
It is a fast-moving production with scenes sometimes overlapping and battles briefly dispatched in stylised balletic slow motion, and speech and sign seem well integrated, though I hesitate to comment on the success of the combination for I did not share what most of the audience saw. Three surtitle screens were positioned around the auditorium, while above centre stage, there were surtitles on a giant disk. From my upper level seat, one stage pillar obscured almost all that central disk and the other obtruded on my view of the one with which I was aligned, which meant I sometimes had to guess what some words were and, even had I known BSL, my bird’s-eye view meant I frequently could not see the signing. From my position it was not possible to read surtitles and simultaneously watch actors closely and inevitably must have missed elements of performance. It is not easy to engage with an actor if you are looking elsewhere. If able to concentrate on the actor would I have been able to appreciate sign acting more fully?