"Age cannot wither her"

The extraordinary Antony and Cleopatra was beamed from the National Theatre into Letchworth's  Broadway Cinema, which is fast becoming one of my favourite venues.

    The performance was simply extraordinary. Antony and Cleopatra is a lengthy play with a convoluted plot but this production managed to keep the pace going with sublime acting, innovative staging and simply beautiful costumes.
     Ralph Fiennes has always been a favourite actor - not least for his portrayal of the hideous SS officer Arnon Goth in Schindler's List - but his Antony was dwarfed by the stunning Sophie Okonedo's Cleopatra. She has more than proved her own acting credentials in the past (especially in Hotel Rwanda) but she brought Cleopatra to life as a real, intelligent and powerful woman.
     Okonedo stole the show and it was all the women who ruled this stage while the men blew hot and cold, fought and argued. With Cleopatra as a role model, both Charmian (Gloria Obianyo) and Ira (Georgia Landers) are equally strong Egyptian women, while the Roman Agrippa (Katy Stephens) and Octavia (Hannah Morrish) bring their own sense of more controlled power.
     Shakespeare, of course, creates the roles that allow these women to exert their power. Even the somewhat unexpected but touchingly brief conversation between Antony's Roman wife (Octavia) and Egyptian lover (Cleopatra) hinted at a mutual respect, despite their obvious differences.
     And it is those evident differences that made this production so extraordinary. Antithesis abounds - Egypt/Rome, men/women, land/sea, love/hate - and those polar opposites kept the audience engrossed. There was an audible collective gasp when Eros (Fisayo Akinade) approached Antony to help him die and, instead, suddenly turned the knife on himself. Moments like that are a gift from Shakespeare but take precise timing and staging, which the National team delivered.
     Cleopatra remains an icon and for all the right reasons.