Antony and Cleopatra

This DVD presents the RSC’s 2017 production of “Antony and Cleopatra”. The first performance was staged on March 11th, 2017. It was directed by Iqbal Khan.The challenge for the directors of “Antony and Cleopatra” is the fact that Shakespeare’s purpose was not to present or romanticize history. He used historical characters to illustrate the stages of the evolution of the human mind. In all Shakespeare’s plays, his characters are a symbolic representation of various aspects of the mind. Some of these aspects, or faculties, are ordinary; others are extraordinary but still latent. The efforts dedicated to the activation of these latent faculties constitute the evolution of the mind. This process must follow a very precise methodology. In “Antony and Cleopatra”, Shakespeare inserted an episode that spells out the critical stages of the process. In this episode, Scarus, one of Antony’s soldiers, shows him a wound that he has received in the engagement. The wound is in the shape of the letter T; but then it changes its shape and becomes the letter H. The letter T is a symbol of supracognitive perception, i.e., the final stage of the evolution of the mind. The letter H is a symbolic representation of a specific alignment between the various aspects of the mind. The sequence “from H to T” indicates the required sequence of the process. Scarus’ message, however, contains the reverse sequence, i.e., “from T to H”. This symbolic message is a warning that Antony is going the wrong way: he cannot succeed without working together with Octavius towards achieving the needed inner balance. The scene with Scarus is a key episode; it points towards the inner structure of the play. This message is primarily addressed to the audiences to make them aware of Shakespeare’s symbolism: “Antony and Cleopatra” describes an evolutionary challenge that humanity encountered at the beginning of the first millennium.As indicated in Scarus’ episode, the evolutionary potential available to mankind at that time could only be realized by having their leading aspects working together in a specific arrangement. The dominating aspects of the mind are symbolically represented by Antony, Octavius and Cleopatra. The proper alignment required that an aspect of the intellect (Octavius) should control the heart (Antony), and this particular aspect of the heart should be employed to execute the needed actions. The challenge is to overcome the influence of an egotistic aspect of the mind that manifests itself through attractions to sensual desires and worldly pleasures (Cleopatra). Theatre directors, however, are intellectually and emotionally conditioned to look at “Antony and Cleopatra” through historical lenses. They tend to portray Antony, Cleopatra and Octavius entirely as historical figures. Because of this, they unintentionally distort the intended impact of the play.Octavius’ role is to supervise the entire process. He is a strategist driven by a higher purpose and does not allow his emotions to interfere with his actions. Octavius knows that without having Antony working harmoniously with him, there is no chance for the fulfilment of this particular evolutionary opportunity. Therefore, Octavius’ aim is not to eliminate Antony (“Our will is Antony be took alive”). Quite to the contrary, he tries to help Antony to regain his lost prominence. He even allows Antony to score an unexpected victory in the land battle. It is then that Scarus delivers the symbolic message. This is the moment when Antony should have reflected upon his overall aim, his situation, and his responsibilities. But Antony is not capable to grasp it; he ignores the warning. At this point, the overall process is derailed. The outcome of this evolutionary failure is illustrated by Shakespeare in “Titus Andronicus”.Cleopatra’s raison d’être is to disturb the process. She does not hide her aim: “All strange and terrible events are welcome. But comforts we despise”. Cleopatra is well aware of Octavius’ role in the process. According to Cleopatra, Octavius is “Fortune’s knave, a minister of her will”. Therefore, her prime enemy is Octavius. Antony is a tool to achieve her goal. She is capable of investing her entire physical and emotional arsenal to achieve her goal. The fact that she is much stronger pronounced in the play than Octavius underlines the problem that humanity was faced with at that time. It was impossible to tame human egotistic and primal instincts. These instincts were still too strong; they were preventing the activation of much more subtle aspects of the mind. By watching the play we witness how gradually Antony is being conquered by Cleopatra and how his potential is gradually diminished. Afterwards, this phase of the process had to be abandoned; it had to move to other times and places. The continuation of the process is illustrated in other Shakespeare’s plays, with the next episode presented in “Cymbeline” (By transforming 1st century Britain into post-Brexit England, Melly Still, the director of the RSC’s 2016 production of “Cymbeline”, made this episode completely unrecognizable).In order to transmit correctly the intended impact of the play, a theatre director is required to stay closely with Shakespeare’s text and avoid any historical or personal biases. Let’s take a look at how Iqbal Khan, the director of this RSC production, has managed this challenge.The characters of Cleopatra and Antony are so richly described by Shakespeare that it would be difficult to misrepresent them. In the RSC’s production, Cleopatra and Antony are played very well by Josette Simon and Antony Byrne. The character of Octavius is much more challenging. Octavius is an enigmatic figure. He is intentionally presented by Shakespeare as a colorless and unattractive man, because he represents an aspect that was not fully developed yet at that time. In theatre productions, he is usually presented as a cold, uninteresting and unsympathetic politician. Iqbal Khan, however, made an exception. In Khan’s production, Octavius played by Ben Allen, is kind of a crying boy; he is emotional, insecure and uncertain. Sometimes he even loses control of himself. In a couple of episodes, there is such a disconnection between Allen’s Octavius and the words he delivers, that it is quite painful to watch him. It would be hard for the audience to perceive that Octavius is in-charge of the entire process that is illustrated in the play. (It is not surprising that the above mentioned scene with Scarus was cut-off.) There is no question that Khan is a very skillful director. His “Antony and Cleopatra” is supported by an impressive stage design (Robert Innes Hopkins), enchanting music (Laura Mvula) and beautiful costumes (Sian Harris). Definitively, this production is entertaining to watch. Yet, as in the case of Khan’s production of “Othello”, he again badly misread Shakespeare. That’s too bad, because the incredible resources available to the RSC should have served a much more effective delivery of Shakespeare’s impact.Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra

This version was excellently acted. However, we are used to watching Shakespeare as a family, and there is a fully nude scene at the end of the film. Fully naked Cleopatra walks slowly from one robe to another to prepare for her suicide. This was not a welcome surprise for us.

Not yet screened the video. But the DVD was new and arrived on time. Thank you,.

A filmed version of the staged production of the Royal Shakespeare gives you front row seats.