Word: cleopatras
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...suspect, though, that in almost every case the cathedra from which these pronouncements have emanated has been an armchair in a professor's home; and, further, that the evaluation has rested almost wholly on the language of the play. It is perfectly true that, as poetry. Antony and Cleopatra is masterly--in fact, unsurpassed by any other work in the canon; but, as dramaturgy, it is a failure, albeit an instructive and fascinating one. Poorly constructed, it suffers from what those in the trade call "second-act slump...
...forty-two scenes some only five or six lines long: and they often go by and shift locale with cinematic speed. In fact, Shakespeare has given us less a stage play than a movie script; and the camera might do almost as much for Antony and Cleopatra as it did for Olivier's screen version of Henry...
...Twelfth Night and has, for a change, approached Antony--given its cast--with a welcome sense of responsibility. Enormously aided by Tharon Musser's lighting, by Rouben Ter-Arutunian's basic but effective settings and stunning costumes (which range from a black-and-gold tent-like shroud in which Cleopatra commits suicide to the sketchiest of breechclouts worn by her Egyptian slaves), and by an extraordinarily precise crew of stagehands, Landau has achieved a visual treat that moves smoothly and employs the possibilities of the Festival's stage with impressive virtuosity. And he is not afraid to adopt a simple...
...surpassed is no cause for a general Hollywood stampede to the Bard: Brando is a unique genius, probably the greatest acting talent our country has produced (come to think of it, I'd like to see him tackle Ryan's job). In the title parts of Antony and Cleopatra, neither Ryan nor Miss Hepburn can begin to convey the magnificent, rich orchestration of the verse, which is so fitting for the overripe society it reflects...
...would be possible--though I am not proffering this as the best solution, to play the work as essentially a near-Shavian high comedy; and of course Shaw did at least treat the Egyptian queen in similar fashion, though taking her at a much tenderer age, in Caesar and Cleopatra. Shakespeare did not present us here with an exalted love: Cleopatra is a nymphomaniac; and sex is, for Antony, just an animalistic gratification. Neither of the lovers is a noble person who experiences a tragic "fall" or deterioration. And we do not undergo a catharsis through "pity and fear...