Thought I'd be
bored by this one espaially comparing it to the Morecombe and Wise sketch or 'Carry on Cleo'. But surprisingly the whole play as well as being a tale of love and power also has a sitcom feel to it. What with eunuch gags and comedy messengers the most serious person in the whole play seems to be the clown in the final act!
During a lull in the fighting over the Empire we get an 'Only Fools and Horses' style Jolly-Boy's booze cruise on Pompey's private boat in Act
II. The most powerful men in the civilised world getting drunk and talking rubbish about crocodiles and quicksand! I
envisaged Antony holding back the hair of Lepidus, who sits on the floor
with his head over a bucket, while Caesar struts around with a traffic-cone on his
head!
Cleopatra's death may well be dignified and noble but not so poor Antony's. What a
farce! First he asks his mate Eros to kill him, but Eros kills himself
instead. Then Tony throws himself on his sword but botches the job. Then
finally he gets a bunch of guardsmen to carry him to Cleopatra but
rather than use the stairs they lift up and over a balcony! This is less
Shakespeare more 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em' ("Ooh Cleo! The Sphinx has
done a woopsie in me helmet!")
And
Finally - Just to round off the Cockney-esque capers we have Cleopatra's call of "Let's to billiards" (Who'd of thought that the Queen of the Nile would be
snooker-loopy!)...
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