Confusing Courage With Hubris

To build a long career in the theater requires a strong ego and a knack for self-preservation.  That’s because rejection is more common than success. Now Tina Packer, the much respected and beloved founder and artistic director of Shakespeare & Company, has built an organization that has won her accolades and admiration throughout the theater world.  

   Regrettably, however, she has stumbled into a situation created by her own hubris.

   Last summer, Packer and actor Nigel Gore appeared in a single staged reading of “Playing with Music: Antony and Cleopatraâ€� at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall. Then Packer decided to mount a full production with herself and Gore at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA.

    Someone should have told her it was a disaster in the making.

   As history tells us, Cleopatra was an imperious queen from a long line of dominant personalities. She possessed a strong sexuality and a commanding presence, and at the age of 39, she killed herself famously with an asp to the breast. Packer, at 60-something, shows her age, despite attempts by makeup and ludicrous costuming to create the appearance of someone years younger; she does not, and cannot, lend credibility to Shakespeare’s sensual character. Instead of a manipulative seductress with regal bearing and an aura of authority, we are given a love-struck matron who seems incapable of controlling her own life, never mind all of Egypt.  Where there should be an underlying tone of strength there is simply an older woman playing at romance and politics. She should at least appear to be equal to the men who surround her since she wields great power.

   Gore is the right age for Antony, but how could this Antony be seduced by this Cleopatra when he had dominance over vast areas of the known world and a choice of mistresses?  His performance is further weakened by a Cleopatra who lacks the strength to be a worthy adversary bent on protecting her own interests. Gore’s military demeanor is emphasized with superficial bravado rather than convincing martial deportment. Gore may not be as miscast as his co-star, but he does not imbue his Antony with the force of a ruler.

   Most of the secondary actors convey more sense in their characterizations, especially Walton Wilson, as Antony’s trusted but traitorous lieutenant Enobarbus, Tony Molina as a soldierly Menas, and Molly Wright Stuart, as one of the queen’s handmaidens and also Antony’s wife, Octavia.

   The play, the last tragedy Shakespeare wrote, is not one of his better works.  Its dialogue is overblown and has few memorable passages.  More importantly, the major characters do not elicit much sympathy. It is difficult to care whether they live or die. Viewing it more as a conflict revolving around politics and power, with an underlying love story, would lend more credence to the play’s universal elements.

   Using few props, simple furniture and minimal set pieces, the production moves fluidly, but the play, which has over 40 scenes, is a long three hours made lengthier by stylized, choreographed battle scenes and a finale which Shakespeare did not include in his play.

   Michael Hammond’s direction is hampered by his leading actress. It is difficult to know if he was limited by Packer’s personal power and their decades-long relationship in which she was teacher, and he was student. Though he has used the stage well, the lack of realistic characterization undermines the production’s forward drive. One would like to think that if a script’s requirements were not being met, the director would take steps to remedy the problems.  

   Bill Barclay’s original incidental music unobtrusively sets the tone for various scenes, but Arthur Oliver’s costumes, which are usually first-rate, make the Romans look outfitted in pajamas. It also appears that most of the characters never changed their clothing, though the play ranges over many years.

  This production has been trumpeted as the highlight of the Berkshires’ summer theater season, placing greater emphasis on Packer’s role than on the production itself. Audiences will arrive to see Packer and not Cleopatra, a disservice to her sterling reputation, the cast and to Shakespeare & Company.

“Antony and Cleopatraâ€� runs through Sept. 2 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA.  For tickets, call 413-637-3353.