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By: JK Clarke

Most of us have known a pair of lovers who are difficult to be around. They are overly affectionate—inappropriately so—in front of others; they argue publicly with unexpected and disproportionate rage; and they take those around them, friends and strangers alike, for granted. In a word, they are completely intolerable. This is the sort of couple we find in The Public’s production of Antony and Cleopatra, now playing through March 23.

One of the great things about the Shakespeare renaissance taking place in New York of late is the opportunity to see seldom-performed works. Even in companies dedicated to Shakespeare (e.g. Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which runs at least three Shakespeare plays a year) some plays only come along every 15 to 20 years. Antony and Cleopatra surely falls into that category (OSF has only done it three times since 1970), so it’s a rare treat to see, and Director/Editor Tarell Alvin McCraney pulls it off nicely, with a rather fresh interpretation.

image-1In the simplest terms, Antony and Cleopatra is the story of how Roman General Marc Antony, in his lust and desire for the Egyptian Queen, neglects his duties as a soldier and loses his empire and, ultimately, his life. This staging plays up the contrasts of the stiff, militaristic (and, in this case, somewhat Napoleonic) Rome and the leisurely, luxurious Alexandria (here represented as a melange of an almost West Indian isle of palm trees, voodoo and interpretative dance straight out of The Lion King). Alexandria, where most of the action takes place, is awash in earth tones, its citizens dressed in white, gauzy material and features a beautiful, multi-purpose pool of cool, blue water. A four piece band (featuring percussionist Akintayo Akinbode’s beautiful vocals) plays prior to the curtain and during the show, setting a relaxed, tropical mood, a paradox of the acts of war and tragedy on stage.

imageOur titular heroes are not quite the alpha personalities we’d expect from two of the most powerful leaders of the world’s largest empires. Rather, they’re lusty, misguided narcissists, the type who will lead their minions to certain death in order to chase (or chastise) an antagonistic lover. Jonathan Cake plays a Mark Antony who is something of a frat boy, who’d rather languish in Egypt with his exciting, controlling sex partner than lead Rome. He’s clearly not the strong, soldierly Mark Antony who “came to bury [Ceasar], and not to praise him.” And Joaquina Kalukango’s Cleopatra is not the legendary temptress/power queen we’ve come to know — she’s petty, jealous and controlling. Rather, these two are George and Martha of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, but early in their romance — a toxic, intolerable couple. As difficult as the characters are, Kalukango and Cake pull them off admirably, making them convincingly self-involved and largely unlikeable. Even after Cleopatra pulls her navy out of a sea battle forcing Antony into cowardly, shameful retreat, he begs of her, “give me a kiss, even this repays me.”

The performances that truly steal the show come from Chivas Michael, playing the three characters Soothsayer, Mardian and Eros with both charming and mysterious presence; and Chukwudi Iwuji as Enobarbus, Antony’s complex and conflicted right hand man, who must ultimately give up on his leader and turn traitor, yet is so dismayed that he deliberately leaves his valuables behind. Enobarbus’s internal turmoil is so palpable that we deeply pity his association with Antony and wish, fruitlessly, for him to emerge unscathed. Cleopatra’s assistant, Eros, is equally dedicated, so much so that he cannot kill his queen, as she requests. He’d rather turn the sword on himself and we weep for him, but not her. That they had such dedicated people surrounding them whom they end up ruining is the real tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra.

Antony and Cleopatra. Through March 23 at the Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street). www.publictheater.org

*Photos: Joan Marcus