Antony and Cleopatra...

[fajrdrako]

Went to see Antony and Cleopatra tonight. I've loved that play since we studied it in grade 13, and I thought it was delightfully slashy. Not just Antony and Enobarbus, but also Cleopatra and Charmian. And it's full of great bits.

I saw it in Windsor Park this evening, on the Rideau River, with deakat, , auriaephiala, random, commodorified, raynedaze, Lindsay, Beulah, and Beulah's friend Peggy. It was performed by Company of Fools, which I happen to think is the best group of actors in Ottawa. They do the most accessible Shakespeare I've ever seen. Kids love their productions. Heck, even dogs love their productions. And so do I.

As usual, my favourite character was Enobarbus, played here by Cari Leslie - who happens to be both female and beautiful, which inverted but did nothing to diminish my sense of the slash potential. Antony, sadly, was not as attractive, as interesting, or as charismatic as Cleopatra (played by Catriona Leger).

Since it was played out of doors, I was able to take photos:


Pompey's rowdy party.
Left to right: Pompey the Pirate (Cari Leslie), Menas (Katie Bunting), Octavian (Stewart Matthews), Lepidus (Geoff McBride), and Marc Antony (Richard Gélinas)




The death of Antony, which choked me up.
(I'm and easy mark, when it comes to those two.)
Left to right: Charmian (Katie Bunting), Cleopatra (Catrona Leger), and Marc Antony (Richard Gélinas)


Enobarbus and the Battle of Actium.

Enobarbus (Cari Leslie); the rest of the cast are underwater, though you can see a bit of the red plume from Octavian's helmet.

As with most Company of Fools productions, they stuck to the story Shakespeare wrote, and used a fair amount of his dialogue, embriodered with ad libs, jokes, rewritten bits, puppetry, and topical comments.

Funniest bits (and I know this won't make sense, or sound funny, but it will remind me, or anyone else who saw this show):

• "Battlesnax". Hard to be sure, but it seemed that the inclusion of "battlesnax" (which were chicken fingers - what else would you eat during a battler?) was an off the cuff line from Cari Leslie that built momentum as a running gag and was picked up on by the kids in the audience, to great effect.
  
• Use of the audience participation. Usually it makes me cringe, but here it seemed particularly well done.
  
• "Everyone's favourite pirate", with jokes about Captain Hook and Captain Jack Sparrow.
  
• The kissing scenes.
  
• Cleopatra takes the asp from the basket right before her death scene. "Snakes," she says. "Why does it have to be snakes."
  
• "Thou hast robbed me of my soul." "No -!" "It's a metaphor."
  
• "It's just my face." - a line used to particularly good effect.
  
• The telephone jokes.
  
• The multiple deaths and suicides. Who knew violent death could be so funny?

Comments

[commodorified]

BATTLESNAX

[fajrdrako]

Yeah... Battlesnax!

[deakat]

"Don't say that like it's a thing." Hee!

[fajrdrako]

[Ver softly] "...Battlesnax."

[(Anonymous)]

This is such a cool thing to find. I'm so glad you liked the show so much. Battlesnax was indeed born from a spontaneous decision that made it into the show, from one evening when there were actual chicken fingers backstage. "Thou hast robbed me of my soul," was actually, "She has robbed me of my sword," hence the angry "It's a metaphor!" When he points out that Antony still has a sword on his belt.

Anyway, sorry to be a total creep, but it's so great to hear that you had fun and loved all of our ridiculous bits- the Fools let us get away with adding so much in the process, and I'm glad it's appreciated.

Cari