Shakespeare's Globe
**
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Blanche McIntyre
 |
| Nadia Nadarajah and John Hollingworth |
There are occasions in the theatre when a play is less than the sum of its parts. So it is with Blanche McIntyre’s take on Anthony & Cleopatra that boldly translates Shakespeare’s prose into a hybrid of spoken verse and British Sign Language (BSL).
John Hollingworth and Nadia Nadarajah play the famed titular lovers. Hollingworth delivers an adequate Anthony as Nadarajah serves up an equally impassioned Egyptian Queen. However, with Nadarajah communicating her entire role through BSL, those audience members not fluent in that language are forced to follow her dialogue via the surtitle screens placed at gallery level around the Globe’s open space.
While the projected words enable the narrative to be followed, the scrolling text screens completely distract one from the strengths (or weaknesses) of Nadarajah’s performance. One is looking at the screen, not the actor and as a consequence much of the power of the verse is lost. The same frustration applies to those other characters in the story delivered through BSL, where again one’s eyes are taken away from the stage by the projections.
Daniel Millar shines as Enobarbus, notably in his famous description of Cleopatra’s barge, but such moments are rare.
An ambitious production that ultimately fails to deliver.
Runs until 15th September
Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz
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