Anthony and Cleopatra : theatre reviews

Abstract

In his Director's Note, Marthinus Basson describes this production of Antony and Cleopatra in disarmingly modest terms: he tells us he "decided not to go with a 'high concept' but rather to focus on and explore the spaces between the fault-lines of the epic sweep and drama suggested by Shakespeare's text" (Basson n.p.). In doing so he "tried to give some weight to the little man, the loyal servant and follower, the slimy bureaucrat and the visionary". And yet we would be foolish to mistake Basson's considered approach here for interpretative docility.