13 to 20 March 2004

in the Studio Theatre

Antony and Cleopatra

by William Shakespeare

directed by Martin Nichols

Antony and Cleopatra was written at the height of Shakespeare's career. Having achieved Hamlet, Othello and King Lear, he could at last do what he wanted and in this play wrote for himself. As a result, Antony and Cleopatra is a joyous glory, riddling with radical and tender hilarity. A genre-busting historical tragi-comedy, the play is both riotously sensual and visionary, tongue in cheek and beautifully serious. What else would you expect of a play in which Shakespeare, the most fertile and creative artist yet known in the English-speaking world, cast himself (a bit-part actor) as a eunuch?

The production will be set in the modern day, and any resemblance you may notice between the recent imperial adventures launched by Messrs Bush and Blair in Iraq and the historical events narrated by the play will be wholly intentional.

Review