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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 11:09:58 GMT
Who's playing it here? Are they high-profile?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 14:46:23 GMT
Who's playing it here? Are they high-profile? Antony Byrne and Josette Simon. Neither look too shabby in the old CV department but I don't think one would call them 'high profile' |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 15:16:04 GMT
Thank you, Ryan. Josette Simon is RSC royalty, playing Isabella in Measure for Measure. I admit I've never heard the name Antony Byrne.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 15:25:15 GMT
That's understandable, he's only been a stalwart of Greg Doran's RSC casting since he took over in 2013 with a bunch of other RSC credits before then.
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Post by Jan on Nov 21, 2017 15:57:40 GMT
It is intriguing that Ralph Fiennes actively wanted to play the role (at NT next year) and was cast before Cleopatra - that is very unusual. Must feel he can bring something to it. More normal was the last NT production where they cast Helen Mirren and then realised they had a problem finding someone to play Antony.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 17:07:03 GMT
That's understandable, he's only been a stalwart of Greg Doran's RSC casting since he took over in 2013 with a bunch of other RSC credits before then. ? If you're defining "high-profile" as "having been cast by the RSC under Greg Doran", then each and every RSC cast member is "high-profile". Seems a perversely circular way of considering this. |
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 21, 2017 17:16:01 GMT
I'm going to see this next week and now I'm scared it will be as flat as Coriolanus.
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Post by martin1965 on Nov 21, 2017 17:58:30 GMT
It is intriguing that Ralph Fiennes actively wanted to play the role (at NT next year) and was cast before Cleopatra - that is very unusual. Must feel he can bring something to it. More normal was the last NT production where they cast Helen Mirren and then realised they had a problem finding someone to play Antony. Alan Bates was cast and then withdrew at the last minute, Alan Rickman took over and was apparently (i didnt go).poor. Ironically not long after Bates played the role at Stratford opposite Frances de la Tour and was quite good. It is interesting about Fiennes, as you say unusual to find an actor actively going for the role. |
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Post by Jan on Nov 21, 2017 18:28:10 GMT
It is intriguing that Ralph Fiennes actively wanted to play the role (at NT next year) and was cast before Cleopatra - that is very unusual. Must feel he can bring something to it. More normal was the last NT production where they cast Helen Mirren and then realised they had a problem finding someone to play Antony. It is interesting about Fiennes, as you say unusual to find an actor actively going for the role. Olivier did of course, partly I suppose because he was keen to promote his wife Vivien Leigh as a stage actor in the classics. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2017 19:23:11 GMT
Despite the length of the part it is traditionally extremely hard to persuade any high-profile actor to play it - partly no doubt because it is Cleopatra's play and Antony disappears way before the end. Paul Scofield turned it down several times for example and McKellen/Jacobi and a host of high-profile others never played it. Of course, you can get round that problem by doing it in rep with Julius Caesar, where Antony is a much better part. Unless you do them in rep without cross-casting. |
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Post by Jan on Nov 22, 2017 6:49:41 GMT
Despite the length of the part it is traditionally extremely hard to persuade any high-profile actor to play it - partly no doubt because it is Cleopatra's play and Antony disappears way before the end. Paul Scofield turned it down several times for example and McKellen/Jacobi and a host of high-profile others never played it. Of course, you can get round that problem by doing it in rep with Julius Caesar, where Antony is a much better part. Unless you do them in rep without cross-casting. Yes, that seems absolutely perverse in the current RSC season, why cast them differently ? I mean apparently they've got the same set and design concept ? |
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Post by Jan on Nov 22, 2017 6:52:57 GMT
I'm going to see this next week and now I'm scared it will be as flat as Coriolanus. Well it's not Angus Jackson directing. (Just trying to give you some hope). |
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Post by martin1965 on Nov 22, 2017 7:13:56 GMT
Of course, you can get round that problem by doing it in rep with Julius Caesar, where Antony is a much better part. Unless you do them in rep without cross-casting. Yes, that seems absolutely perverse in the current RSC season, why cast them differently ? I mean apparently they've got the same set and design concept ? They have, it seemed odd to me not to have Antony played by same actor. Did you see Fiennes in the Barbican Julius Caesar a while back? He was good as i recall. |
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Post by Jan on Nov 22, 2017 7:58:19 GMT
Yes, that seems absolutely perverse in the current RSC season, why cast them differently ? I mean apparently they've got the same set and design concept ? They have, it seemed odd to me not to have Antony played by same actor. Did you see Fiennes in the Barbican Julius Caesar a while back? He was good as i recall. Yes I did see that, he was good from what I remember. |
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Post by lynette on Nov 22, 2017 12:15:08 GMT
Yes, a missed opportunity for an aspiring actor. They always seem to think that Antony should be played by an Old established actor whom we are all crazy to see. no! NO No. slightly older than Octavius, yes, a touch of gristle... but it doesn’t have to be a 'name' and it would be fun to have the same bloke in both JC and Ant & Cleo. And the same Octavius. Etc etc..
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 12:58:22 GMT
I think in terms of historical events, Antony and Cleopatra starts 4 years after the end of Julius Caesar, so no reason not to use the same actors.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 14:56:43 GMT
I have only ever seen this play once. I saw the 1987 Judi Dench/Anthony Hopkins version directed by Peter Hall. I was very pleased to see it because I don’t think Hopkins ever appeared on stage again after that. It was brilliant.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 15:04:12 GMT
Actually, I also saw Talawa Theatre’s Version with Dona Kroll as Cleopatra. She was fab. I think that Josette Simon also appeared in the Dench/Hopkins production. Can anyone else remember?
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Post by Jan on Nov 22, 2017 17:27:14 GMT
Actually, I also saw Talawa Theatre’s Version with Dona Kroll as Cleopatra. She was fab. I think that Josette Simon also appeared in the Dench/Hopkins production. Can anyone else remember? I saw that one. Hopkins was good but Dench hopelessly miscast in my view. I don't remember Josette Simon being in it and the NT Archive suggests she wasn't. catalogue.nationaltheatre.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Performance&id=838&pos=1However, she had a small part in the RSC Adrian Noble/Helen Mirren/Michael Gambon production of it in the 1980s which is maybe what you were remembering. |
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Post by bordeaux on Nov 22, 2017 21:12:28 GMT
I have only ever seen this play once. I saw the 1987 Judi Dench/Anthony Hopkins version directed by Peter Hall. I was very pleased to see it because I don’t think Hopkins ever appeared on stage again after that. It was brilliant. I'm pretty sure he was in M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang in 1989, the thing Clive Owen is in on Broadway at the mo. |
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Post by lonlad on Nov 23, 2017 0:41:19 GMT
Yes, M BUTTERFLY at the Shaftesbury was the last thing Hopkins has done onstage in London - he was pretty terrible in it and gave the impression that he was embarrassed by the part. the play didn't do especially well here (having been a smash in NY a season or two before where it had several cast changes) and Hopkins's London co-star, Glen Goei, has totally vanished. FWIW, Owen is *excellent* in the current NY production - tremendously engaged and sympathetic.
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Post by couldileaveyou on Nov 23, 2017 0:59:12 GMT
Hopkins's London co-star, Glen Goei, has totally vanished. Actually he's a very active actor and theatre director in Singapore |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2017 17:53:29 GMT
M Butterfly with Anthony Hopkins was a huge popular hit at the Leicester Haymarket, immmediately prior to the Westy Endy transfer.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2017 17:55:04 GMT
Hopkins's London co-star, Glen Goei, has totally vanished. Actually he's a very active actor and theatre director in Singapore Don't confuse the London-centric folk on here with facts! |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 14:44:05 GMT
How long after 'Julius Caesar' is 'Tony & Cleo' set? Because I'm pretty sure they used the same Octavius from JC but not the same Mark Antony. In fact, Mark Antony from JC was someone else entirely in this one!
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