Theatre review: Shakespeare's Rebels

Actor Simon Prast in Shakespeare's Rebels.

As a setting for Shakespeare it would be hard to beat the café balcony of the historic Pah Homestead. The action flows around quirky sculptures from the Wallace Collection while the sound of chirping cicadas blends with random bird calls and the softly modulating light of the western sky provides a spectacularly dramatic backdrop.

The excerpts are loosely connected under the theme of rebellion, though if you were to raise the question posed in The Wild One - "Hey Johnny what are you rebelling against?" - the answer would echo Brando's laconic "Whadda you got ?"

Snippets from Macbeth and Coriolanus are primarily concerned with the mechanics of conspiracy, while the revelation scene from The Merchant of Venice, with Portia and Nerissa mercilessly pranking their husbands, has more to do with revel than rebel.

A comic highlight comes an exuberant mix of horseplay and swordplay from Henry IV Part One that sees Simon Prast in fine form as a brazenly dissembling Falstaff.

In a similar vein the bewildering riot of mistaken identities in Twelfth Night is given an additional layer of complication when cross-gender role playing collides with cross-gender casting.

A more convincing exploration of the theme comes from The Tempest, with Caliban's surly rebellion against Prospero's authority which concludes with a nice song fragment recalling the defiant spirit of Dylan's Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More.

As dusk falls there is a more serious treatment of political rebellion with the funeral oration from Julius Caesar. Excellent performances from Simon Prast and Sam Mannering capture the brilliant rhetorical strategies of Brutus and Mark Antony while revealing the corrupting influence of personal ambition.

On opening night a few speeches were carried off by a surprising chilly breeze but the six-person cast all show considerable vocal skill and Jennifer Freed was particularly impressive in handling the rhythm of Shakespearean verse.

What: Shakespeare's Rebels
Where: Pah Homestead, Hillsborough
When: Now to February 15

- nzherald.co.nz