Natasha Daniel's Cleopatra is a complex, capricious character.
In Antony & Cleopatra the clash of civilisations is set against the intimacy of a tender love story and the epic struggle between Rome and Egypt comes to represent the conflicting impulses that exist within each of us.
Dr Vanessa Byrnes intelligently reworks the text to emphasise inner emotion over
public spectacle and retains much of the poetic complexity of Shakespeare's verse.
The fast-paced staging brings clarity to the play's fickle changes in fortune and lends momentum to the frequent transitions as the action swings between Egypt and Rome.
There is some awkwardness as the production negotiates the difficult transition from the studio space where it began as a graduate student work to the magnificent Globe.
Actors attempt to include the surrounding audience by circling around the stage while delivering speeches but this tends to dissipate the drama and the more compelling moments come in points of stillness.
