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My concept for Antony and Cleopatra sets the passion and politics in a psychological landscape that contrasts the hot, passionate and fertile world of Egypt with the cool, intellectual and linear world of Rome.
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I want the actors to physically experience the tensions in the play. To emphasize the contrast between the worlds, there is a threshold through which all performers must pass when traveling between Rome and Egypt. I want the actors to experience a physical change when traveling between the worlds: getting spritzed with perfume, massaged with oil when entering Egypt; getting dressed and sanitized to enter Rome. Jenny's set spreads out the playing areas and serves as an obstacle course that contains all the locations spread out in the space. AJ's challenge in his lighting design is to isolate small areas while retaining the sense of the entire world. The set also allows for scenes of genuine (not "acted") struggle. I am interested in battles, lovemaking and torture that require genuine physical exertion from the actors. I asked Web Crowell to make a "battle machine" so we could structure the fighting onstage, instead of hear them described from afar. I want the battles to be genuine competitions between actors, where nobody needs to "throw" the fight. To follow the plot however, one army is handicapped and thus destined to lose.
I also want to explore the idea of gravitational influence inherent in this play. Antony says "These strong Egyptian fetters I must break." I want to make this literal: When he is near Cleopatra he becomes her satellite. This links me to the lunar imagery in the play as well. Erin Jorgensen will be providing live marimba accompaniment in the production, and I've endowed her with a sense of the moon. I also asked Jenny and AJ for a physical set piece of a moon that can be broken down into pieces. Instead of dividing the play into 5 acts, it is divided into "phases," with the moon shedding a phase at pivotal moments in the production.
For inspiration I looked to Jung's notion of masculine and feminine archetypes, and the quest for balance between these worlds. That Antony and Cleopatra cannot achieve this balance is at the heart of the tragedy.
This play and concept resonated with Conworks' "hindsight" series in several ways. That it involves war and passion in the Middle East speaks not only to the current political climate, but to the history of the region through Caesar's and Shakespeare's times. The agony of the play is that a different decision at any moment could save the characters from their fate. Meeting the enemy by sea, drinking instead of resting for battle, sending word to your lover that you are dead…They all seem like fine ideas at the time, but in hindsight...
Early in the play, Antony states that he must find balance between these worlds or it will destroy him. In death he looks back at his missed opportunity. It is only in the passionate moment that he is blind.
Photos from Line One: click to view a larger image...
And from the "You-Gotta-Read-It" file...
Excerpt from John Kaufmann's email to the Stranger's Brendan Kiley, discussing Brendan's article "Anatomy of a Fuck Up"
Brendan-
No Trubs
"Antony and Cleopatra Post Mortem?" I'd have changed that yawner, too. I didn't take it personally (the title),
I think it referred to the play and not me.
It was really nice to visit with you on the roof. It's rare to have someone want to have a serious talk about a show after it closes, and I gained some perspective on my own feelings about the show. Thanks!
The only factual error: You know ME, and I liked the show!
From my biased perspective, the article felt torn between 2 foci: "What went wrong on Antony and Cleopatra," and "A John Kaufmann letdown."
I was inspired to briefly pursue each of these themes. I share my article outlines below for you, each represented by one of the Stranger's two prospective titles:
1) Antony and Cleopatra Post Mortem (Alternate titles: "John Kaufmann's Recipe for Theatrical Disaster" or the even more sublime: "...Recipe for Tragedy"):
While I don't agree the show was a failure, I think it would be interesting to break down what went wrong in hindsight. I spoke to some of these things later in the interview, but it would be interesting to talk to Richter, actors, designers, Bret, Steve, other audience members, etc. to get a fuller picture. Probably too time-consuming for the scope, I realize.
The opening paragraph would give a brief overview of the show, arguing that it was a failure, poorly reviewed, etc. (the current article contains this)
Sub-headings (the "recipe") might be as follows:
A) Choose a Shakespeare play (each of these bolded headings would have a funny little support of why this is a bad idea for a fringe show.)
b) Specifically, choose Antony and Cleopatra (this is easily supported as well. It would include some interesting history about the play, why it is seldom produced, the ridiculously problematic and anachronistic structure. [actually one of the reasons I DID choose it!])
c) Conceptualize as you rehearse (This would have to come from a confession by me, but I'd admit that sometimes the rehearsal fell on the scary side of "organic." I think this ultimately lead more to personal stress and a near-nervous breakdown than a decline in product quality)
d) cast young/inexperienced actors...(again, coming around to the added challenges of Shakespeare, the scope of emotion required, etc. You could pick on individual performances, but I'd hope you wouldn't. I felt very lucky with my cast, but it didn't even cross my mind to pre-cast the major roles)
e) make it long (I felt like it supported its length, but I did go into it shooting to produce a shorter work. I do believe an under 2 hour experience would have stifled 75% of the criticism [people really are that easy]. Looking back, I would have cut more and fought for a lighting plan that allowed for more fluid transitions)
f) build a giant "war machine." This would be about the trials and tribulations of Web and the Machine. My request that it allow for "genuine struggle" which led to the actors breaking it repeatedly and in dramatically dangerous ways, once on the night before opening.
g) Produce the show at ConWorks. (this would mix history/lore of the challenges/curse of ConWorks, as well as the practical challenge of filling the space. I thought we did an good job of filling the space, but in doing so created space between actors and audience that some actors couldn't bridge, and the show felt figuratively as well as literally distant to some audience members.)
The other article (focusing on me rather than the play):
2) Anatomy of a Fuck Up (alternate title: "John Kaufmann: Perennial Failure") Now, I'm not feeling sorry for myself here, because an issue I take with the article is that it seems to suggest that I am a stranger to failure, when rather I am a proud product of failure.
It is a willingness to repeatedly fail that allowed any success I've had. This article would remind people that in spite of any recent successes, Antony and Cleopatra comes from a rich tradition of failures from John Kaufmann. The article could talk about my getting booed offstage in Moscow Idaho at my first stand-up comedy (my high-water mark for failure!). It would pull out old reviews that were not so flattering. It would talk about doing solo shows (even some that you mention as successes) for 2 or no audience members. It would talk about Steve Wieking, who, if I saved hundreds of lives landing an aircraft after the Pilot and CoPilot were knocked unconscious would title his write-up "A Disappointingly Bumpy Landing by Kaufman."
I respect the article as written, but thought you might enjoy my alternate-universe articles inspired by it and our discussion.
Peace
John