By Megan Ruge, Co-Editor in Chief
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. is showing their production of “Antony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare. They began performing this specific play on Oct. 10 and will have their final performance on Nov. 19.
For this production, The Folger used a “theater-in-round” which means that the production happened on the floor and the audience sat all around the action, with seating on all sides, to get a 360 degree feel of the performance.
According to tour directors at the Folger, the director Robert Richmond wanted the audience to feel like they were part of the world of Antony and Cleopatra.
The play follows the story of the great Roman general Marc Antony and his great love affair with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. The play shows how their romance affected Antony and how it lead to his falling out with Rome and ultimately his downfall.
Throughout the story, we meet the young Octavius Caesar. Leader of the empire, Octavius has a short and childish temper that leads him to believe his only option for survival is to get rid of Antony, as he feels threatened by Antony’s influence over the people of Rome.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, Antony is riding the roller coaster of love, paying no mind to Octavius. Antony sees Octavius’s issue with him as a childish game, but what he doesn’t realize is that his un- folding in the eyes of Rome has begun with Octavius at the helm. The whole play shows love as the strongest force in a person’s life and how it can also be the biggest weakness.
A well-known Shakespeare tragedy, “Antony and Cleopatra” is also known to be the hardest of Shakespeare’s plays to stage, but the Folger knew what they were doing. In the play, battles at land and on sea take place. These scenes are the main reason the play is hard to stage as there really isn’t a realistic way to stage a battle at sea.
In this scene, instead of portraying an entire battle on land and at sea, the cast performed certain rhythmic choreography that included jabs and parries with the sword, but look more like an ancient dance than a battle on land.
The cast did the same thing with the sea battle: they did a dance and the lighting reflected the idea that they were on a body of water.
During this scene, the cast also put together a montage like sequence to represent the death by heartbreak of Antony’s right-hand man, Enobarbus, played by actor Nigel Gore.
In the play, Enobarbus dies after leaving Antony’s side from a broken heart. Though his heart is broken from having to leave Antony and essentially betray him, his death can also be attributed to Octavius as he spearheaded the rise up against Antony.
For the performance, they combined Enobarbus’s death scene and the battle at sea so that each parry or thrust at the enemy was shown as a stab to Enobarbus. In the end of the scene, Antony delivers the last blow and calls out, “Antony,” as he dies.
Cleopatra, played by actress Shirine Babb, was well portrayed and really encompassed the drama and hilarity of the Egyptian queen. Her performance and vulnerability on stage really brought the character to life.
Antony, played by actor Cody Nickell, brought energy and passion to the character. Antony is known for his passion, which is why it literally causes his death.
Nickell’s voice added power to Antony and really brought him to life. A character once flat on a page was now dynamic and alive for the audience.
The Folger production of “Antony and Cleopatra” was well produced and performed.