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Authors: William Shakespeare
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shifting her entire style from night to night, she must establish a clean line of connection between the two Cleopatras. Since one of these is an inexperienced child and the other quite a calculating woman…she is faced with a considerable challenge…But she succeeds in creating a single, believable, and commanding person, and it is no small accomplishment. 21
The Cambridge scholar and director George “Dadie” Rylands thought that “Laurence Olivier sacrificed Antony to Cleopatra and ‘for his ordinary paid his heart.’” 22 Harry Andrews’ Enobarbus and Robert Helpmann’s Octavius Caesar were both praised, as was Michael Benthall’s skillful textual pruning designed to romanticize the lovers—he cut the Seleucus episode and Ventidius’ triumph at Misenum. Benthallused a revolving stage to facilitate scene changes and lighting to reinforce the distinction between a warm scarlet Egypt and cobalt-blue Rome. Rylands recalled the final tableau that the audience carried away from the St James’s Theatre: “Who will forget Vivien Leigh, robed and crowned in the habiliments of an Egyptian goddess, beauty on a monument smiling extremity out of act? The gipsy, the ribaudred nag, the boggler, the triple-turned whore, the fragment of Gneius Pompey’s trencher, were all forgotten.” 23
Glen Byam Shaw’s second production at Stratford (1953) was praised for the “cinematic celerity” 24 of scenes which “shuttle inunbroken succession, the luxurious glow of the East giving instant place to the cold white of Rome, and it is only a second and closer look that assures one each is a pure illusion created by light alone in the cyclorama.” 25 The performances of Michael Redgrave and Peggy Ashcroft as the lovers were “still being used as a touchstone forty years later,” 26 despite concern that Ashcroft was miscast as Cleopatra: “She is neither physically large enough nor temperamentally earthy enough.” 27 Always uneasy with the role of Cleopatra, critical desire for a realist fusion of actor and role is apparent in Kenneth Tynan’s comment that the part which “English actresses are naturally equipped to play is Octavia…an English Cleopatra is a contradiction in terms.” 28 Despite this, critics admired her performance: “Miss Ashcroft presents the sensual, termagant queen with wonderful power and skill; but we miss the sluttish and unpredictable gipsy. It is nevertheless a triumphant piece of acting, most moving in its climax in the last act.” 29
2. Michael Redgrave as Antony and Peggy Ashcroft as Cleopatra in Glen Byam Shaw’s 1953 Stratford production: critics wondered whether Ashcroft had the right kind of sex appeal.
The Suez Crisis of 1956 brought Egypt to national consciousness once more. Robert Helpmann’s production at the Old Vic the following year was frequently described as “cinematic” in scope and technique. The single set was “dominated by obelisks (‘Cleopatra’s Needles’) that clever lighting turned into Roman pillars,” which “not only accommodated the play’s restlessness, but assisted ‘cinematic’ juxtaposition” 30 and allowed Helpmann “to bring the Cleopatra who is present to Antony’s mind’s eye in Rome advancing from the other side of the stage to begin her scene in Alexandria.” 31 Keith Michell’s Antony was “not so colossal a wreck as Redgrave’s, nor as commanding as Olivier’s,” 32 but nevertheless bestrid the stage; but Margaret Whiting, despite her raven hair and “shapeliness,” failed to “balance majesty with sensuality.” 33
The box office success of the 1960 American Shakespeare Festival was Jack Landau’s production in which Katharine Hepburn’s Cleopatra was praised for “her passion, both the sensuous and hot-tempered varieties,” although Robert Ryan’s Antony disappointed. 34 The set and lighting for Michael Langham’s production for the 1967 Stratford Festival in Ontario allowed the play “to move as fluently as a
The Cambridge scholar and director George “Dadie” Rylands thought that “Laurence Olivier sacrificed Antony to Cleopatra and ‘for his ordinary paid his heart.’” 22 Harry Andrews’ Enobarbus and Robert Helpmann’s Octavius Caesar were both praised, as was Michael Benthall’s skillful textual pruning designed to romanticize the lovers—he cut the Seleucus episode and Ventidius’ triumph at Misenum. Benthallused a revolving stage to facilitate scene changes and lighting to reinforce the distinction between a warm scarlet Egypt and cobalt-blue Rome. Rylands recalled the final tableau that the audience carried away from the St James’s Theatre: “Who will forget Vivien Leigh, robed and crowned in the habiliments of an Egyptian goddess, beauty on a monument smiling extremity out of act? The gipsy, the ribaudred nag, the boggler, the triple-turned whore, the fragment of Gneius Pompey’s trencher, were all forgotten.” 23
Glen Byam Shaw’s second production at Stratford (1953) was praised for the “cinematic celerity” 24 of scenes which “shuttle inunbroken succession, the luxurious glow of the East giving instant place to the cold white of Rome, and it is only a second and closer look that assures one each is a pure illusion created by light alone in the cyclorama.” 25 The performances of Michael Redgrave and Peggy Ashcroft as the lovers were “still being used as a touchstone forty years later,” 26 despite concern that Ashcroft was miscast as Cleopatra: “She is neither physically large enough nor temperamentally earthy enough.” 27 Always uneasy with the role of Cleopatra, critical desire for a realist fusion of actor and role is apparent in Kenneth Tynan’s comment that the part which “English actresses are naturally equipped to play is Octavia…an English Cleopatra is a contradiction in terms.” 28 Despite this, critics admired her performance: “Miss Ashcroft presents the sensual, termagant queen with wonderful power and skill; but we miss the sluttish and unpredictable gipsy. It is nevertheless a triumphant piece of acting, most moving in its climax in the last act.” 29
2. Michael Redgrave as Antony and Peggy Ashcroft as Cleopatra in Glen Byam Shaw’s 1953 Stratford production: critics wondered whether Ashcroft had the right kind of sex appeal.
The Suez Crisis of 1956 brought Egypt to national consciousness once more. Robert Helpmann’s production at the Old Vic the following year was frequently described as “cinematic” in scope and technique. The single set was “dominated by obelisks (‘Cleopatra’s Needles’) that clever lighting turned into Roman pillars,” which “not only accommodated the play’s restlessness, but assisted ‘cinematic’ juxtaposition” 30 and allowed Helpmann “to bring the Cleopatra who is present to Antony’s mind’s eye in Rome advancing from the other side of the stage to begin her scene in Alexandria.” 31 Keith Michell’s Antony was “not so colossal a wreck as Redgrave’s, nor as commanding as Olivier’s,” 32 but nevertheless bestrid the stage; but Margaret Whiting, despite her raven hair and “shapeliness,” failed to “balance majesty with sensuality.” 33
The box office success of the 1960 American Shakespeare Festival was Jack Landau’s production in which Katharine Hepburn’s Cleopatra was praised for “her passion, both the sensuous and hot-tempered varieties,” although Robert Ryan’s Antony disappointed. 34 The set and lighting for Michael Langham’s production for the 1967 Stratford Festival in Ontario allowed the play “to move as fluently as a
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