Power is often said to be the ultimate aphrodisiac, and in the case of two significant theatrical productions of the 1986 season in London's famed West End, the seat of power is portrayed from a connubial point of view, where ambitious but vulnerable heroines are destroyed by the desire for yet more power through political association with a loved one.
Both of these two plays offered startling performances by gifted actresses at the height of their artistic powers, and though one was written almost 400 years ago about an event that took place nearly 2,000 years ago, and the other was written and set in the present era, each portrays a classic situation in which human character struggles against itself and eventually brings about its own demise.
William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra is among the Bard's more rarely staged histories, but when Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Dalton play the title roles, they imbue the work with vitality, immediacy, and indeed carnality that make ancient Alexandria, Rome, and Athens seem very much like modern London, Paris, and New York, where jet set powerbrokers wheel and deal and think themselves immune from problems besetting mere mortals. By the time Mark Antony has lost his army, Cleopatra, her fleet, and both of them any semblance of self-respect before their appalled retinues, it is clear that the passion for power and for one another that has led them to such arrogant and poorly planned tactics has clouded their perceptions of exactly who they are.
Vanessa Redgrave is widely regarded as among the finest, if most unconventional thespians of her generation, and her enactment of Cleopatra reflects both of those qualities. Giggling like a spoiled coquette at one moment, defiantly threatening the legions of Imperial Rome the next, ruthlessly scheming against her paramour in one scene, then coyly playing the obedient captive in another, Redgrave brings vitality, humor, and irony to the personality of this Nile queen, willing to gamble all in a single throw of the dice, and, having lost, eagerly embracing the serpent who will send her into eternal sleep.
Having performed the part of queen before (Guinevere in the Lerner and Loewe Camelot opposite Richard Harris, Mary Stuart in Mary, Queen of Scots opposite Glenda Jackson, and others), Redgrave is well-suited to regal roles, but her record for breathing animation into exceptionally unorthodox women (Isadora Duncan in Isadora, Agatha Christie in Agatha, and the title role in Julia) puts her in a league by herself. Under the direction of Toby Robertson and Christopher Selbie, her wild-eyed fire seems to ignite the stage (sparsely designed by Simon Higlett in the style of The Globe Theatre), and the sparks she constantly tosses are cavalierly returned by Timothy Dalton.
Recently chosen as the new James Bond (Sean Connery and Roger Moore are now too old to save the world), Dalton portrays Antony as a man's man as well as the proverbial catnip for Cleopatra. Best known for his work as Heathcliffe in Wuthering Heights and as Rochester in Jane Eyre, he delivers himself into the jaws of doom with a bravado that seems to spur the Egyptian queen on to yet more foolhardy strategies. With his muscular frame careening histrionically one minute, then crawling pitiably the next, his lust for power grows out of control and his vainglorious denial of his roots cuts him down even as he
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