CLEOPATRA: Her Infinite Variety - 2005

The British Cultural Association’ Annual Shakespeare Commemoration ‘05
Music Room, St. James Cavalier
Valletta, Malta

Actors
Simone Spiteri
Magda van Kuilenburg
Franica Pulis
Victoria Vella

Musician/ Composer
Tim Ellis

We focused on one particular scene from the Bard’s last tragedy/ history play: Antony and Cleopatra, involving Cleopatra and repeat it three times back to back, each time with a different take on her essence as suggested by the various academics throughout history. The scenes, all depicting the messenger’s deliverance of Antony’s new marriage to Octavia (Act II Scene V), will not, however, be presented as three fragmentary pieces but will be presented as a whole without ever halting the action from one ‘Cleopatra’ to the other.

Moreover, the three different ‘Cleopatra’- renderings will not be segmented because we want to explore the possibility that Cleopatra is neither of the viewpoints presented by the scholars but rather an embodiment of all of them. This will, hopefully, highlight what W.H. Clemen thinks of Cleopatra: that “She is neither solely queen, nor solely harlot, nor solely witch, but unites in her person all these contrasting natures”. This in turn would further illustrate what Enobarbus aptly describes as Cleopatra’s “infinite variety”.