What: Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare
Where: The Swan Theatre @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Waterside, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Who: The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
When: 13th December 2018
It has been a strange year for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It just got stranger. Their take on – should I say adaptation of Timon of Athens – is an unusual one. And that is to say something quite remarkable because this play is seldom performed.
What: Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
Where: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon,
Who: The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
When: 4th July 2017
The RSC’s current production of “Titus Andronicus” is a bloody mess.
And that is both a good thing and a bad thing.
“Titus Andronicus” is meant to be violent and bloody and the RSC have achieved that with great aplomb.
However, “Titus Andronicus” is meant (in my view) to be macabre rather than comedic and here too much is played simply for laughs.
What: Julius Caesar
Where: Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon
Who: Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
When: 4th May 2017.
This reviewer is confused
The RSC decided in their wisdom to have “press day” for both Antony & Cleopatra and Julius Caesar on the same day. Figuring that seeing two plays on one day would rather ruin the palate for the second, I decided to opt out of one. On the flip of a coin and because I prefer the “Cleopatra” play normally, I decided to come back and see Julius Caesar another day even though my review would appear later than everyone else’s and although it would mean seeing the plays out of sequence. Also, sequentially, it makes much more sense for Julius Caesar to be seen first.
Now I have to say that “Antony and Cleopatra” was horrible and the worst production i have seen from the RSC for a number of years.
Now since there is a director overseeing the four productions in the RSC’s Rome series, I estimated that this production would go in roughly the same direction as Iqbal Khan’s “Anthony and Cleopatra” and would need some fine performances to save it.
I needn’t have worried because Angus Jackson’s “Julius Caesar” is confusingly, truly excellent. Not flawless but truly, truly excellent and you would do well to see it.
Who: Royal Shakespeare Company
What: Antony and Cleopatra
Where: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
When: 23rd March 2017
This is the first of four reviews that I will deliver over the coming months on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Rome season. We begin with Antony and Cleopatra and then head through Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus. The comfort of this is that it gives the RSC three attempts to improve upon this woeful Antony and Cleopatra.
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