Mythic Figures, Living Large and in Love in Egypt

THEATER REVIEW | 'ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA'

Julien Jourdes for The New York Times

Marton Csokas and Laila Robins in the title roles of an “Antony and Cleopatra” set around 1884.

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

The New York Times, Published: April 4, 2008

“Antony and Cleopatra” is a big play to squeeze onto a small stage. The same could be said for most of Shakespeare, in theory, but the mythic title characters of this one may require even more theatrical space than most of their brothers and sisters in the tragic canon. And the play is as much a sweeping historical drama as it is the story of a passionate union brought to ruin. Antony and Cleopatra do not just make history as they make love — they embody it, in all its grandeur, its confusion and its folly.

The Theater for a New Audience’s production of the play, which opened on Thursday, must scale down the story to fit a relatively small space (the Duke on 42nd Street, which has just 200 seats), with some uncomfortable results. I have probably seen many characters in Shakespeare plays resurrect themselves to make a necessary exit, but it seemed to trespass on the dignity of the great Antony’s death to watch him rise to his feet and quietly slink off, while his great rival, Octavius Caesar, held forth in the next scene... [article continues]

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

By William Shakespeare; directed by Darko Tresnjak; sets by Alexander Dodge; costumes by Linda Cho; lighting by York Kennedy; sound by Jane Shaw; voice/text consultants, Robert Neff Williams and Cicely Berry; choreography by Peggy Hickey; fight director, Rick Sordelet; production stage manager, Renee Lutz; production manager, Ken Larson; general manager, Theresa Von Klug. Presented by Theater for a New Audience, Jeffrey Horowitz, artistic director; Theodore C. Rogers, chairman; Dorothy Ryan, managing director. At the Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd Street, Manhattan; (646) 223-3010. Through May 2. Running time: three hours.