Two main things that I picked up in SHU's production of Antony and Cleopatra.
I attended SHU's production of Antony and Cleopatra last on Thrusday evening. As many of you know, the production was modernized. I really enjoyed the play with the modernization, and found it easier to understand. Though I wish that they wouldn't have cut some of the parts that I felt were integral in the play, such as Lepidus, and Pompey, I still feel that it was an effective way to translate Shakespeare's work.
I found a few very interesting things during the play. First of all, I felt that the constant music during all of the scenes was a set back. I felt that it kind of disctracted the audience from what was happening on stage. Also, there wasn't much difference between the Roman music and the Egyptian music. The next thing that I found was that they condensed the play in many ways in order to not have to fulfuill so many characters. For example, near the end, when Antony is dying, he tells Cleopatra to only trust Agrippa.
As I said before going to see the play, modernized or not, really helped me understant the text better. One thing that I noticed was an interesting point concerning the who had the power. I saw two examples in which key decisions in the play weren't decided by the key charaters. For example, who's idea was it for Antony to marry Octavia? You probably think Caesar's right? Well, in the play I finally saw that it was Agrippa who suggested it to Caesar. Big deal right? Well if you think about it, your ruler is only as strong as the people he or she surrounds himself with. Caesar had some smart "cabinet members." The other example that I have involves Cleopatra and Charmian. Now we know that Cleopatra can be nasty one minute and nice the next, and we know that she can be tricky. Well, who was it that suggested to hide away in the monument and tell Antony that she had died? Charmian. Yes, her right hand woman. As I stated before, you are who you associate with, and we can see that Cleopatra either associated herself with people like herself, or was the way she was because of the people she had arround her. These two instances don't seem to be too world changing, but it was something that I noticed, and just thought I'd point out.
That also goes along with Caesar's decision to reject Enobarbus. Caesar didn't want to put on his staff a man who is untrustworthy, and because Enobarbus left Antony when the going got really rough, Caesar has no faith in Enobarbus being a faithful servant to him (Caesar). Thus, he rejects Enobarbus's offer of service. That was harsh -- and well done in this production.