William Shakespeare had written 38 plays when he died at the age of 52 in 1616. My first exposure to him was when we read “Julius Caesar in my 9th grade class. It was a challenge to read as it was written in Early Modern English, also known as Elizabethan English, which lasted until the mid-18th century. When I go to see a play by a French or Russian playwright, I see a translated version. But alas, when I go to see one by The Bard of
Avon, I must do the translating in my head as I watch the performance.
Of the many plays by Shakespeare, I was most familiar with Hamlet, MacBeth, and Julius Caesar. Growing up in Queens, New York, I often went to free performances of Shakespeare in Central Park. I even took a course in Shakespeare in college. (I got a B). But alas, that was a very long time ago. The only thing I knew about Antony and Cleopatra is what I got when I saw the film with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the early 1960’s. As a result, I was most curious to see the production of “Antony & Cleopatra.”
This play is being performed in repertory with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Quintessence Theatre. But while I was entranced by “Midsummer,” I found “Antony & Cleopatra,” performed by the same twelve actors, unsatisfying for many reasons.
Shakespeare’s play is about the political maneuverings of the triumvirate running the Roman empire after the death of Julius Caesar. His great nephew Octavius Caesar, Lepidus, and Mark Antony share power. There are alliances, wars, and outright murders. And then there is the love affair between Antony and Cleopatra, which greatly effects those alliances. The stories are there- the deliveries are not.
All the information we get about what is going on comes by way of lengthy monologues or dialogues that are challenging to follow. Talk, talk, talk without much action in the first hour and a half act. And with the challenging Elizabethan English, I found that when I missed a few lines in a row, I drifted away from the play until something happened- unfortunately not often enough. The problem was less about the words then about the way the actors spit them out. I saw a few people sleeping in the audience.
There was little nuance. Actors just ranted on and on. I didn’t feel the chemistry between Antony and Cleopatra, essential to the play. I was most disappointed. Were they really in love? Was she a seductress? You’ll never know from this production. Director Alex Burns, who so effectively directed “Midsummer,” let the actors drone on and on. And ironically, Lee Thomas Coropassi, who was so great in “Midsummer” as Puck, was anunconvincing Octavius. I also found it difficult to follow the changing characters playing several roles, as they did not create separate personae for those characters.
William Shakespeare has explored so many powerful and meaningful themes in his many plays. But a really good production of those the plays requires much more than actors just spouting them out as if they were holy. It is an effort to watch it for three hours.
“Antony & Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare at Quintessence Theatre, 7137 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19119, 215-987-4450, quintessencetheatre.org in repertory with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Thru April 27, 2025
Philadelphia Theater Reviews by Frank Burd 