The recent opening of The Divine in Dalston as a new queer bar and performance venue provides a new location for drama in an area where previously only the Arcola held sway. Shakespeare’s ‘Antony & Cleopatra’ is perhaps not an obvious choice for an opening adaptation, but director Robert Chevara and producer Jonny Woo make us look at it afresh, and, as so often, an unexpected angle produces unpredictable dividends.
The setting is a Berlin underground gay nightclub, where leather and drugs are the defining markers. Indeed the action is book-ended by a few seconds of dancing to a heavy disco beat. But this context is more gestural than integrated with the play, and almost immediately we are plunged into Shakespeare’s text, or at least a sharply reduced account of it, focused very much on the relationship between Antony and Cleopatra, with most of the other characters removed, barring Charmian, Cleopatra’s attendant, and Dolabella, the Roman emissary who sympathises with Cleopatra’s final predicament. This is a version without the politics, indeed anyone new to the play might wonder a bit who the various Caesars are, such is the C-section.
In any adaptation you have to ask what is gained and what is lost, and while the broader context is gone here, there are real wins as well. The fencing, jealousies, quarrelling and reconciliations come over very plausibly here; and there was ample scope for high camp and bitchiness to be successful and incidentally amusing. Roman history indeed lends itself to such things. The scene in which Cleopatra forces the messenger to compare her with Antony’s wife, Octavia, is hilarious, and serves as a reminder that there is actually a lot of humour in this play, if you know where to find it. And the relationship between Charmian and Cleopatra, both affectionate and waspish, is wholly plausible as part of a ‘gay besties’ aesthetic.
But in some ways the best parts of this version were its traditional virtues. In the role of Cleopatra, Jonny Woo find an ‘infinite variety’ of mood and delivers the verse with poise and careful projection that is not too big for the space. Also included are a number of famous modern pop anthems – perhaps a few too many – which help to encapsulate the mood or action of particular scenes. There is excellent work from Alexis Gregory as well, and he delivers the famous speech describing Cleopatra’s journey down the Nile with care and skill. Jonathan Blake has less to do in the more passive roles of Dolabella and other messengers, but he takes his moments well.
I have more reservations about William McGeough’s portrayal of Antony which was too angry and shouty too early. This is an enormously difficult character to inhabit plausibly, and over the years I have seen few actors who have conquered it. It is an essentially middle-aged, wry and disappointed take on life, ultimately difficult to square with the overall approach of this production. On the other hand, McGeough delivered the song entrusted to him with real vigour and conviction.
This adaptation reminded me that a play with a text as lush and freighted with dense imagery as this is essentially operatic. It cannot be rushed and needs careful, well-modulated delivery if it is to land fully. There were scenes in which this balance was struck well, and others where aggressive production values chafed against the subtle and layered nature of the material.
William Shakespeare
Adapted & Directed: Robert Chevara
Cast: Jonathan Blake, Alexis Gregory, William McGeough, Jonny Woo
Until 27 September 2024
90 mins, no interval
Photo Credit: Jane Hobson