I chose this section because it features the waterbed, the toy boats, the battle machine, and my favorite moment in the play.  We start with Cleopatra playing with the toy boats, which is all Antony needs to see to believe that he can defeat Caesar’s army in a sea battle.  Then the battle machine rolls out for the first time in the play.  Web Crowell designed that beast, and my intention was that the actors wouldn’t need to fake their struggle.  I wanted the machine to mediate a genuine physical battle between actors; that the outcome was handicapped, but not guaranteed.  Well, this rigid philosophy led to us breaking the machine several times in rehearsal and actors getting hurt. So we had to cheat a little bit.  In theory, he numbers work to get the result I wanted.  Notice that it’s 3 against 2 in favor of Team Egypt, then Cleopatra bails, Antony follows, and then it’s just stalwart Eros by herself.  Then poor Alexas gets doused with water (it’s dirt in the later land battle).  Finally Antony and Cleopatra are reunited by force in my favorite moment in the play.  The touch of their hands, followed by sudden stillness and quiet, with the marimba filling in affected me every night. 

    I’ve come to accept that not everybody loved this play as much as I did (I mean, not NEARLY as much...), but I’m still proud of all we bit off, the risks we took and the  world we created and in this show.

John KaufmannDirector/Adaptor

Brynn HamblyProduction Manager

Makaela PollockAssistant Director

AJ BuchbinderStage Manager

AJ EpsteinLight Design

Erin JorgensenMusician

Jenny AndersonSet Design

Mairi ChisolmCostume Design

Web CrowellProps and Gizmos

Cast:

Tim Barr, Chris Blancett, Khanh Doan, Cecelia Frye, Anna Henare, Heather Hughes, Josh Knisely, Shawn Law, Willie Levasseur, Jeanette Maus, Lantze Wagner, Terri Weagant

Antony and Cleopatra program notes