A lust for freedom fuels the Shakes’ production of “Antony and Cleopatra,” Matt Palm writes.
A host of relative newcomers to Orlando Shakespeare Theater brings ancient Egypt to the stage in the troupe’s appealing production of “Antony and Cleopatra.”
The best-known of the new performers is Michael Dorn, who played “Star Trek” Klingon Lt. Worf for more than a decade on TV and in film. He brings gravitas to Marc Antony, but it’s Caralyn Kozlowski’s Cleopatra who gives the story its fire. As tempestuous as she is amorous, Kozlowski makes it easy to believe a man would throw away everything under her seductive spell.
The show is staged in the Shakespeare Center’s 120-seat Goldman Theater, with action spilling out into the audience. Several of the play’s minor characters have been consolidated with the usual dialogue snips here and there. The result, though not displeasing, is a less grand and more intimate version of the story.
Though the characters tells us the fate of the world is in the hands of these rulers, nothing seems quite that epic. Instead, as directed by Joseph Discher, the feeling is more intimate — as if we are voyeurs into the private lives of two top-tier celebrities of their day.
The show opens with some of the “gypsy lust” to which Shakespeare refers — as the titular couple gets busy in the boudoir. This striking visual touch conveys the idea that Antony and Cleopatra are ruled more by lust than pure love, and that lust is bound up with a desire for freedom. For Antony, it’s freedom from the conventionality of Rome for the delights of Egypt; Dorn gives the famed line “In the east my pleasure lies” as if he is just realizing the fact for himself.
As queen, Cleopatra is intoxicated by the freedom to do as she pleases, outside the conventions for her gender. She contrasts nicely with the sister of Antony’s political rival, Octavia, who is played with a becoming spirit of duty — then anger — by Roberta Emerson. Also making a strong impression in a secondary role: Topher Embrey as a frequent bearer of bad news.
Framing the show this way puts to rest the “bad woman leads good man astray” paradigm. Instead, we see two equally complex people looking for some form of happiness. Dorn’s Antony is a military man, a man’s man. Perhaps he holds his cards a little too close to his chest — the highs in the early going don’t feel as high as they might. But the lows that follow register powerfully.
Kozlowski neatly finds the connecting thread between Cleopatra’s early mercurial behavior and her later regal dignity.
They are a couple worth watching.