Con’s Score:4.5 Asps
The greatest love story ever told is the subject of this month’s NT Live production, starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo.
Marc Antony (Ralph Fiennes) is romping it up in Egypt with Cleopatra (Okonedo) when he has to return to Rome. There’s a civil war involving his brother and wife, Fulvia who is dead. To settle tensions with Julius Caeser (Tunji Kasim) he happily accepts to marry his sister, Octavia but soon returns to Alexandria where he marries Cleopatra. War follows and we all know how it ends. When there’s a conflict between honour and love, loyalty to country wins.
The star of this show is the amazing set. It opens with a modest granite stairs and a wall before it revolves into Cleopatra ‘s Palace, which has a water feature. It then revolves into Caesar’s marble palace before another set revolves into view, then back to Cleo’s which sinks into the floor and the outside of a submarine arises from it, which revolves and takes us inside… and that’s just Act one.
The monumental set seems to set off the actors, who go large to compete with it. Simon Godwin seems to have focused more on the set and the amazing costumes than reigning in his actors, although he has put together an excellent cast.
Shakespeare’s script is an uneven one. There are lots of lines for these actors to savour, but too often characters turn mid-scene: Pompey (Sargo Yelda) goes from menacing to accommodating within one Marc Antony speech; Marc Antony leaves Cleopatra breathless in one scene then agrees to marry Octavia mid-argument with Caeser in his next. And characters who are in favour one scene have been executed in between. It’s demanding on the actors and audience. If it wasn’t based on history you wouldn’t accept the twists.
What you will accept is that the human stars are superb. Fiennes chews up the scenery, frolics between scenes and has fun with his lines. He fumbles a few, but makes them part of his character. He’s a joy to watch. What’s left of the scenery, Sophie Okonedo devours. She reigns as supreme as her namesake, and the chemistry they have is sizzling. Two ageing rulers and lovers grabbing what glory they can, while their power and youth slip away.
Shakespeare gives many of his characters moments and the support cast features stand out performances. , especially Tim McMullan as Enobarbus and Fisayo Akinade as Eros; Georgia Landers and Glosria Obianyo as Cleo’s ladies didn’t miss a note. I could name them all, although Sargo Yelda and Pompey and Kasim as Caesar didn’t match their colleagues, but they may have suffered from comparison and direction.
The interval features a look at how the costumes were conceived, as they are dressed in modern cotouire fashion. The play is set in the present (minus mobile phones. (The audience does enough to upset me with theirs… this time it was a lady with a cane, probably in her 80s. It seems rudeness is ageless.) Cleopatra is dressed like a goddess with one based on a Beyoncé creation – another modern female goddess. One garment that took a lot of work lasted a short scene. Antony starts in chinos and a tourist shirt in Egypt but they’re all in Gucci double-breasted suits when in Rome. Later, they’re in modern uniform – Caesar in crisp naval clothes and Antony in war fatigues. It’s very well costumed.
It’s a long three and half hours, but that’s Shakespeare. It doesn’t matter. This is an engrossing and spectacular production and one of their best.
Con Nats, On The Screen
