Medea - Review

Soho Place, London

***

Adapted by Robinson Jeffers from the play by Euripides

Directed by Dominic Cooke

Sophie Okonedo

Sophie Okonedo bestrides the Soho Place like a colossus such is the depth and power of her Medea. In Robinson Jeffers’ adaptation of Euripides’ classic tale, hers indeed is “a bitter thing to be a woman”. Betrayed and dumped by husband Jason for the beautiful young daughter of Creon, her fury is palpable and in a 90 minute one-act telling of the old yarn, Okonedo burns at its core like a brilliant flaming torch.

But Medea’s infernal misandry towards Creon and Jason is matched only by that of director and co-producer Dominic Cooke, who lumps all of the play’s adult male roles onto the solo shoulders of the unquestionably talented Ben Daniels. We have been here before with Cooke’s mean spirted multi-role casting in his recent Good, a casting tendency that is not good. Daniels’ multi-faceted performance is a distraction, with his Aegeus proving annoyingly camp. Elsewhere Marion Bailey’s Nurse is a decent turn, however the Chorus of three women of Corinth, sprinkled amongst the stalls are a lacklustre trio.

It is when Okonedo speaks that the play becomes alive, such is her genius. But, save for Creon serving her with a Decree of Banishment that deliciously echoes Den Watts' 1986 serving of divorce papers on Angie, much of the other spoken parts are tedious.

As the horrific climax draws near, one is almost willing Medea to get on with it - such is the soggy  (yes, there’s water) melodrama that the cast make of the play’s endgame. And (spoiler alert), when she does slaughter her boys (great work from the ice-cream slurpingly duo of Ben Connor and Heath Gee-Burrowes on press night) even then the audience is shortchanged, with the murders frustratingly happening offstage and represented only by Okonedo’s outstanding acting and her arms drenched in blood. 

Okonedo is one of the most gifted actors of her generation. To have seen her murderous actions, rather than just her emotional reactions, could have made for a moment of outstanding theatre.

See this play for Okonedo’s work - she will be remembered as a magnificent Medea. Sadly, the production will not.

Antony and Cleopatra - Review

National Theatre, London


****


Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin

Sophie Okonedo and Ralph Fiennes

It’s all very well for director Simon Godwin to project his Antony and Cleopatra into the modern era but for one gaping hole in the logic. Whilst the costumes and the weaponry (Kalashnikovs, really?) may be 21st Century, neither the Italy nor the Egypt of today, save for their respective antiquities, resemble anything like their illustrious glories from millennia past. This play skips over the inconvenient modernities that Italy is broken and Egypt impoverished, but misquoting Mark Twain, why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

And truly, this is a ripping yarn. As “a pair so famous”, Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo are the titular magnificents. Perfectly cast, Fiennes the grizzled, patrician warrior Antony bears a love for Cleopatra that is almost tangible in its devotion. As much as Fiennes brings an impasssioned wisdom to his role, so too does Okonedo command the stage with a powerful petulance, their mutual, eternal devotion well elicited by Godwin.

There is fine supporting work too. Tim McMullan’s Enobarbus is a work of art in itself, his description of Cleopatra’s Royal Barge and of her beauty, delivered with a rarely encountered richness. In a neat gender-twist, Katy Stephens takes on Agrippa, creating a brief but plausible chemistry with Enobarbus as she outlines her plans for Antony’s wedding to Octavia, while in Cleopatra’s court, Gloria Obianyo is a touching Charmian.

The technical values of the production offer up our National Theatre at its very best. Michael Bruce’s music (delivered beautifully by the side-staged 5 piece band) draws from a variety of themes, with just a delicious hint of Ron Goodwin too during a military moment. 

Hildegard Bechtler’s set design proves to be a veritable chocolate box of surprises. Making fine use of the Olivier’s drum revolve (even if some of the below level scene-shifting could be quieter) Bechtler effortlessly shifts the action to and fro across the Mediterranean, even creating an ornate pond in Cleopatra’s palace. Elsewhere, in place of his originally scripted galley,  Pompey (Sargon Yelda) is given a submarine from which to command his fleet. And a nod to the heart-warmingly cute (and non-venomous) milk snake, called upon to double as an asp, which comes close to stealing the final scene!

At three and a half hours all in Antony and Cleopatra is a long haul, but with Fiennes and Okonedo making Shakespeare’s verse sing, there are moments here to be savoured.

Runs until 19th January 2019 in repertory

To be screened via NTLive on 6th December

Photo credit: Johan Persson