Part 16 Anthony and Cleopatra
-2006: Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; Novello Theatre, London. Filmed by the V&A
Greg starts with a trip to Egypt with Tony for inspiration. Three pages could be called "Searching for Cleopatra". He tells us "the language of this play is more lush, more heady with sensuality than any other Shakespeare play". And it all depends on the title roles as they have two thirds of all the lines. So here we have Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter. Top casting. Patrick was especially good at creating lots of laughs, and Harriet was especially good in the last act.
We hear a lot about Mark Antony, for example a longish piece on how he botches his own suicide. I liked the passage about the snake and why a real one had to be substituted for a false. Michael Billington in his review calls Antony "Shakespeare's most demanding role" and that Patrick was "the best Antony since Michael Redgrave half a century ago.
19th August 2010 at The Royal hakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Post of 20th August 2010
Part 17 Merry Wives - The Musical
-2006: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Michael Boyd had proposed a Complete Works Festival for 2006. Greg comes up with the idea of a musical version of The Merry Wives of Windsor. He tells us "it's a romp, Shakespeare's sitcom, or as someone once said "it is the I Love Lucy of the Shakespeare canon". We have Falstaff, Bardolph and Pistol are deposited in Windsor, a long way from their normal residence of Eastcheap.
Songs are required and here Greg is enjoying his role of a back seat driver, giving more responsibility to musical director Bruce O'Neil along with the composer and choreographer. We hear how the couple who sing the love duet were actually marvelous. And Alec McGowan found he could sing. As did Judy Dench. Top marks for Brendan O'Hea as Pistol, a cross between Russell Brand and Jack Sparrow.
However, disaster strikes when Des Barrit who was playing Falstaff is injured and the search is on for a lst minute replacement. Who can start immediately! They are so lucky that Simon Callow is free, is perfect and already knows some of the lines. But the critics were not impressed, but what do they know. The production was sold out with standing ovations every night.
17th November 2010 at Milton Keynes Theatre
Post of 18th November 2010
Part 18 Coriolanus
-2007: Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon; Eisenhower Theatre, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC; Theatre Royal, Newcastle; Teatro Albeniz, Madrid, Spain"
An invitation to the British Library involved listening to extracts from their recordings of every production at Stratford. Greg is particularly impressed with Sir Laurence Olivier's performance of Coriolanus in 1959 directed by Peter Hall with dame Edith Evans as Volumnia. We are now at the very end of the Complete Works Festival and Greg is directing Coriolanus before the Royal Shakespeare Theatre closes for a transformation. With Will Houston (Coriolanus) and Janet Suzman (Volumnia) they are described as perfect casting. And Timothy West as Menenius Agrippa. We hear a lot about the set and how they are able to open up the stage to the very back wall, only because it's the last play in the theatre.
Greg goes into some detail about the different political factions in the play and how he must not prefer one to another. For example: the tribunes. "Was there ever a more self-serving, cowardly, vicious, pusillanimous pain in all literature". He talks about the casting of Janet Suzman and how she is so good: "never a loss for words. She has just delivered a fifty line appeal to her son, surely one of the longest speeches in Shakespeare.
Greh explains how "it would be very hard to ignore the theme of homoeroticism". Aufidius and Coriolanus declare how much they love their wives, but "how much more they worship each other". "They even dream of one another". Lastly, we hear about the "terrifying bloodbath" at the end. The reviews were great, especially those for Will. Even compared with Larry. There is also a nice postscript about the tour and meeting the "acclaimed actress and director Zoe Caldwell in Washington". She had never played Volumnia because watching Edith Evans in the part, it could never be equaled.
28th September 2017 The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Post of 29th September 2017
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