Antony and Cleopatra

  Antony and Cleopatra

by Immi Marsh      

I looked at the Antony and Cleopatra 1974 film directed by Jon Scoffield, with Janet Suzman playing Cleopatra and Richard Johnson as Mark Antony. The setting of the film is rather basic, often with a white or black backdrop, but it also strips it back to basics by highlighting the characters with no distracting surroundings and thus perhaps making it more dramatic, as the focus is only on the speech and actions. However the costumes are quite elaborate to make up for the lack of setting.

(Focus: power relations between men and women) Act 1 scene 2- Enobarbus and Antony in the film lie back casually, whilst drinking, and make light-hearted conversation about how a man’s departure or absence from a woman essentially kills her- highlighting Fulvia’s predetermined weakness as a woman, as she is now dead, supposedly from the absence of Antony in Rome. When Antony exclaims to Enobarbus that Fulvia has died they both laugh, which is particularly derogative to women, as though they were disposable, highlighting male superiority.

Then in the following scene of Act 1 scene 3, Cleopatra highlights the cunning side to her that she has to exhibit in order to maintain Antony’s love and affection, which highlights important power relations, seeing as the Queen who actually has power over many people has to put on a front of illness claiming she is ‘sick and sullen’ in order to keep him interested. In the film Cleopatra plays an extremely melodramatic role, as seen in Egypt’s typically more theatrical side, especially when she discovers that Fulvia is dead, she goes from being upset to jealous and then endeavours to seduce Antony. This cunning yet erotic side to her is exacerbated by the two of them communicating and walking around playfully between drapes hanging from the ceiling, as though hiding behind facades of how they truly feel.

Then finally, it can link to Act 2 scene 2 where Agrippa suggests that Antony marries Octavia to bring him and Caesar together as brothers. Scoffield films the two parties on separate sides to each other and then shows them coming together over a woman when Antony agrees to marry her. This highlights the woman’s place as passive and disposable as Octavia has no say in it, and it shows why Cleopatra feels she must be so manipulative in order to survive in a world where men believe that women would die without them.

Measure for Measure

 Measure for Measure

By Ellen Mclaughlin

1979 BBC Version

Director: Desmond Davis

Duke: Kenneth Connolly 

Isabella: Kate Nelligan

Angelo: Tim Pigott-Smith

Claudio: Christopher Strauli

Lucio: John McEnry

·         The 1979 version is true to the original script, in plot and in dialogue

·         The setting is Vienna, the costume symbolising a portrayal of the time in which the play was written.

·         The themes of the exploitation of power, sexual harassment and Christian forgiveness are touched upon- but not as explicitly as they potentially could be (applicable to modern society)

·         Isabella is adorned in white- encapsulation of moral superiority, chastity and Christianity.

·         Women’s only power is their sexuality- Angelo is unconvinced when Isabella is at first feeble, but the more passionate her speeches and the closer she draws herself to him the more attention he pays her

·         Angelo is the figure head of patriarchal authority- he exploits his position to attempt to force himself on Isabella and taker her virginity in lust. Hypocrite- committing crime that Claudio is to be executed for (sex outside of marriage) in a more horrendous form. Claudio and Juliet’s sexual relationship was consensual. Angelo attempts to take Isabella’s vowed chastity through blackmail.

·         The darkest of Shakespeare’s comedies? Pompey, Lucio and Elbow offer comic relief however the majority of the plot is driven by dark undertones of corruption, sexual exploitation, deceit.

·         A Happy ending? Juliet and Claudio are married, as are Mariana and Angelo. However, the Duke offers his hand to Isabella. Despite saving Claudio in goodwill- does Shakespeare insinuate that there is an unspoken obligation for Isabella to be the Duke’s wife and give up her vows because she owes him that favour? Juliet speaks no lines- it is ambiguous as to whether she accepts his offer or not. In the BBC version it appears she concedes, aligning with a typical Hollywood ending (love?). However, such an interpretation re-emphasises the message that a woman’s only power is her sexuality.

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

By Alex Mackey

Trevor Nunn’s 1996 adaption of ‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ takes a distinctly more dramatic and melancholy approach to the original play. The cast includes Imogen Stubbs as Viola, Toby Stephens as Orsino, Helena Bonham Carter as Olivia, Steven Mackintosh as Sebastian, Richard E. Grant as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Ben Kingsley as Feste. The physical similarity between the main characters (Viola, Orsino and Sebastian, and Sir Andrew to a lesser extent) and the similarities in costume emphasises the sense of flexibility of their identities and the general equality between them. This also overcomes the problem faced by modern directors using a mixed-gender cast, whereas in original productions all-male casts would naturally look similar.

In terms of faithfulness to the original text, Nunn’s film is for the most part accurate, with a few cuts of peripheral scenes and lines. The adaption however has some more extreme editing to group major scenes together. The most notable element of the adaption is the focus on Feste’s songs and rhymes, which are used throughout the adaption and as ‘book-ends’ at the beginning and end of the film. This has the effect of placing the story in a bard-like oral tradition of storytelling, suggesting a more allegorical or fantastical understanding of the narrative. As mentioned however, the overall effect of Nunn’s adaption is dramatic and realistic, with austere countryside settings and toned-down comedic scenes.

Costume and setting also have a subtle effect on the tone of the adaption. By using 19^th Century Central European dress, the film suggests an impending end to happiness through its associations with the eventual First World War and collapse of various European empires. This recalls Bahktin’s Carnival and uses war as the ultimate historical example of an end to prosperity, and the freedom of the Carnivalesque, felt at the end of the 19^th Century.

Ben Kingsley as Feste the clown is one of the more unusual roles in the film, with not only his distanced songs of narration but also a character almost devoid of actual comedic lines. The delivery of the line “No Sir I live by the church” is disdainful and impatient, and his verbal wit suggests world-weariness rather than a mastery of language. He is presented as a melancholy seer who undermines the action of the play through frequent reminders of inevitable sadness and disaster. His costume also noticeably separates him from the rest of the cast, which combined with the blurred boundaries of his diegetic and non-diegetic songs removes him almost entirely from the play.

Overall, Nunn’s adaption offers an interesting approach to the limits of comedy. The sense of foreboding found in the original text is emphasised throughout through various means, and is a useful example of blurred genres in Shakepeare’s comedies. The film is also useful for an exploration of the Carnival, as well as issues of gendered identity and desire.