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CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA by George Bernard Shaw directed by George Hartpence March 7 through 23, 2003 | ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA by Wm Shakespeare directed by Cheryl Doyle April 25 through May 11, 2003 | 
(click on the poster above to go to the Actors'NET web page devoted to this show) | 
(click on the poster above to go to the Actors'NET web page devoted to this show) | Stuart Duncan of The Princeton Packet publications said: Actors' NET of Bucks County has mounted a stunning production of the Shaw play on its tiny stage at the Heritage Center in Morrisville. It will knock your eyes out with its majestic setting and costumes, then tease
your brain into pretzels with the playwright's joyous leaps to surprising conclusions. In a series of impressive mountings, this one — with George Hartpence as director and a deliciously talented company of two dozen — may just be the most impressive ever. | The Princeton Packet publications: Actors' NET of Bucks County has developed a knack for taking
huge projects, fashioning them to fit its postage-stamp space at the
Heritage Center in Morrisville, Pa., snipping away excess material, doubling and sometimes tripling cameo roles and offering rewarding,
comprehensive productions to its knowing audiences.
The latest triumph is Shakespeare's Antony and
Cleopatra, seldom staged and unwieldy, but passionate and fiery. It makes a delicious companion piece to last month's Shaw comedy, Caesar and Cleopatra, and an appetizer to next month's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the third in what Actors' NET is calling "The Toga Trilogy." It is no simple task for director Cheryl Doyle
— more than 30 roles, four hours (here chopped to three and a half), and the usual complement of angst and trauma. It also includes some of Shakespeare's most elegant language and complicated characters.
|  C. Jameson Bradley as Julius Caesar and Tammie Koehler as Cleopatra | 
Carol Thompson as Cleopatra and George Hartpence as Antony |  (click on the image of the great god Ra above to be transported to a separate page with details of the set design for this production) |  "I am dying, Egypt!" (to download the abridged script - approx playing time 3-1/2 hrs - click the logo above) | Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901 and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901 collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on March 15, 1899. The first London production was at the Savoy Theatre in 1907. Caesar and Cleopatra marked George Hartpence's directorial debut with The Actors' NET of Bucks County. George also designed the set, which was subsequently used for the NET production of Wm Skakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. | Antony and Cleopatra is a historical tragedy by William Shakespeare, originally printed in the First Folio of 1623.
The plot, based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Mark Antony, follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Parthian War to Cleopatra's suicide. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumvirs and the future first emperor of Rome. The tragedy is a Roman play characterized by swift, panoramic shifts in geographical locations and in registers, alternating between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and the more pragmatic, austere Rome. Many consider the role of Cleopatra in this play one of the most complex female roles in Shakespeare's work. She is frequently vain and histrionic, provoking an audience almost to scorn; at the same time, Shakespeare's efforts invest both her and Antony with tragic grandeur. These contradictory features have led to famously divided critical responses. | 
(for a complete plot synopsis, thematic discussion and production history overview of Caesar and Cleopatra, simply click George Bernard Shaw) | 
(for a complete plot synopsis, thematic discussion and production history overview of Antony and Cleopatra, simply click on the Bard) (For an abbreviated synopsis, see below.) | | Publicity photos: | | 
Tammie Koehler - left - as Cleopatra and Jamie Bradley - right - as Julius Caesar | 
Tammie Koehler - left - as Cleopatra and Jamie Bradley - right - as Julius Caesar | | Production photos: | | | 
Caesar (Jamie Bradley - center) confers with Britannus (Mort Paterson - left) and Rufio (Curtis Kaine - right) | 
Caesar (Jamie Bradley - left) converses with Cleopatra (Tammie Koehler - right) while seated on the foot of the Sphinx | 
Caesar (Jamie Bradley - seated) confronts young pharaoh Ptolemy's (Logan Junkins - up center) guardian Pothinus (Dale Simon - left). General Achillas (Chuck Donnelly - above right) watches the scene. | 
Britannus (Mort Paterson - left) arms Caesar Jamie Bradley (center) as Caesar Tammie Koehler (right) as Cleopatra | 
Apollodorus (David Cramer - center) tries to bribe Caesar's legions | 
Caesar (Jamie Bradley - center) discovers a surprise inside a newly delivered carpet. David Cramer as Apollodorus (left) Mort Paterson as Britannus (right) Tammie Koehler (center) as Cleopatra | 
Cleopatra (Tammie Koehler - left) shows her displeasure with her nurse Ftatateeta (Cheryl Doyle - right) | 
Cleopatra (Tammie Koehler - left) Julius Caesar (Jamie Bradley - center left) Apollodorus (David Cramer - center right) Rufio (Curtis Kaine - right) | 
Tammie Keohler (left) as Cleopatra Dale Simon (center) as Pothinus | 
Marco Newton as Ptolemy's tutor - Theodotus | 
Caesar (Jamie Bradley - right) bids farewell to Cleopatra (Tammie Koehler - left) as Britannus (Mort Paterson (above) looks on. | 
Cleopatra's nurse, Ftatateeta (Cheryl Doyle) fights like an Egyptian to protect her mistress | | | 
Cleopatra - Tammie Koehler - right | 
Tammie Koehler as Cleopatra David Cramer as Apollodorus |
| | Publicity photos: | | 
Carol Thompson - left - as Cleopatra and George Hartpence - right - as Antony |
Carol Thompson - above - as Cleopatra and George Hartpence - below- as Antony | | Production photos: | | 
Carol Thompson as Cleopatra George Hartpence as Antony Cheryl Williams and Theresa Forsyth Swartz look on as Charmian and Iras | 
Carol Thompson as Cleopatra George Hartpence as Antony | 
Chuck Donnelly (left) as Sextus Pompeius Gerorge Hartpence (center left) as Antony Michael DeShields (center right) as Octavius Mort Paterson (right) as Lepidus | 
David Swartz (left) as Enobarbus George Hartpence (center left) as Antony Curtis Kaine (center) as Agrippa Michael DeShields (center right) as Octavius Mort Paterson (right) as Lepidus | 
drunken revelry George Hartpence (center) as Antony Curtis Kaine (left) as Agrippa Mort Paterson (right) as Lepidus | 
Antony's married James B. Kenny (right) as Messenger Carol Thompson (center) as Cleopatra Mike Russo (rear center) as Thidias Cheryl Williams and Theresa Forsyth Swartz look on as Charmian and Iras | 
George Hartpence (left) as Antony David Swartz (left rear) as Enobarbus Mike Russo (center) as unlucky messenger | 
Carol Thompson as Cleopatra George Hartpence as Antony | 
Miguel Velez (left) as Eros George Hartpence (center) as Antony Carol Thompson (right) as Cleopatra | 
George Hartpence as Antony | 
George Hartpence as Antony | 
"I am dying, Egypt." Carol Thompson as Cleopatra George Hartpence as Antony | 
Michael DeShields (right) as Octavius Carol Thompson (left) as Cleopatra | 
Bernard DiCasimirro (left) as Proculeius Carol Thompson (right) as Cleopatra | 
"Don't feed the worm." Carol Thompson (left) as Cleopatra Mort Paterson (right) as Clown | 
"I am fire and air!" Carol Thompson - center - as Cleopatra Theresa Forsyth Swartz (left) as Charmian Cheryl Williams (right) as Iras |
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Caesar and Cleopatra
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Antony and Cleopatra
| | Dramatis personae: | (in order of appearance) | | Ra (voice over) | Jerry Lyden | | Centurion | Jim Palmer | | Roman Sentinel | Ed Patton | | Auxiliary Sentinel | Ed Correale | | Rufio | Curtis Kaine | | Britannus | Morton Paterson | | Julius Caesar | C. Jameson Bradley | | Roman Messenger | Ken Ammerman | | Cleopatra VII | Tammy Koehler | | Egyptian Slave | Pat McGuire | | Ftatateeta | Cheryl Doyle | | Charmian | Alexa Newton | | Iras | Emma Chong | | Lady in Waiting | Cheryl Williams | | Third Sentinel | Ken Ammerman | | Pothinus | Dale Simon | | Theodotus | Marco Newton | | Achillas | Chuck Donnelly | | Aide de Camp | Ed Correale | | Egyptian Courtiers | Ilana Millner, Holly Caracappa, Susan Blair, Cheryl Williams | | Ptolemy XIII | Logan Junkins | | Lucius Septimius | Mike Russo | | Wounded Soldier | Pat McGuire | | Apollodorus | David Cramer | | First Porter | Chuck Donnelly | | Second Porter | Marco Newton | | Boatman | Phil Fagans | | Harpist | Holly Caracappa | | Professor of Music | Ken Ammerman | | Major Domo | Ed Correale | | Stewards | Ilana Millner, Holly Caracappa | | Priest | Pat McGuire | Egyptian Courtiers | Chuck Donnelly, Marco Newton, Cheryl Williams, Susan Blair |
| | Dramatis personae: | | | Antony, Triumvir | George Hartpence | | Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt | Carol Thompson | | Octavius Caesar, Triumvir | Michael DeShields | | Enobarbus, friend to Antony | David Swartz | | Lepidus, Triumvir | Mort Paterson | | Sextus Pompeius | Chuck Donnelly | | Eros, friend to Antony | Miguel Velez | | Agrippa, friend to Caesar | Curtis Kaine | | Thidias | Mike Russo | | Menas, friend to Pompey | Bernard DiCasimirro | | Menecrates, friend to Pompey | Don Mann | | Varrius, friend to Pompey | Ed Correale | | Silius, an officer under Ventidius | Ed Patton | | Euphronius, ambassador from Antony to Caesar | James B. Kenny | | Alexas, attendant on Cleopatra | Mike Russo | | Mardian, attendant on Cleopatra | Marco Newton | | Ventidius, friend to Antony | Frank Martin | | Scarus, friend to Antony | Ed Patton | | Decertas, friend to Antony | Bernard DiCasimirro | | Diomedes, attendant on Cleopatra | James B. Kenny | | Proculeius, friend to Caesar | Bernard DiCasimirro | | Gallus, friend to Caesar | Don Mann | | Octavia, sister to Caesar, wife to Antony | Cat Miller | | Charmian, attendant on Cleopatra | Theresa Forsyth Swartz | | Iras, attendant on Cleopatra | Cheryl Williams | | Messengers | James B. Kenny, Don Mann | | Soothsayer | Ed Patton | | Clown | Mort Paterson | | Soldiers | Don Mann, Chuck Donnelly, Frank Miller, Ed Correale | | Attendant 1/Musician | James B. Kenny | | Attendant 2/Musician | Mike Russo | | Servant | James B. Kenny |
| Director’s Notes: Caesar and Cleopatra - A Tale of Two Empires
I’d like to thank Joe and Cheryl Doyle for giving me the opportunity to make my directorial debut with such a wonderfully written and exciting play. An avid playgoer myself, I really enjoy reading the programme before and after the performance, in particular the director’s notes and any information on the history of the play or production background. I think these notes help make for a richer theater experience, but sadly one often has to travel as far as The Shaw Festival in Canada to find them. Below are a series of comments compiled from a variety of sources, most particularly the above referenced festival, which I hope will increase your appreciation of the many facets of this show.
Shaw was deliberately playing with history when he sat down to write Caesar and Cleopatra. Written in 1899, the play premiered in 1906, at a time when historical spectacle or "tableaux" were popular. Public education then was very classically based, and the history of the Roman conquests would have been much better known than it is to today's audience. Undoubtedly the first of Shaw’s really great plays, it is crammed with authentic historical detail, but plays fast and loose with the facts. It is clear that Shaw used the British Empire as a model for the Rome of Caesar's time. Caesar’s soldiers are made to talk like members of the British army that occupied Egypt in the 1880’s to protect Britain’s investment in the Suez Canal. Caesar’s secretary Britannus explains why all British men of social standing regard blue as the only respectable color to wear, in peace and war. Again and again in the course of the play Shaw throws some anachronistic joke at the audience, as if to say with a wink, “don’t believe a word of it!” Most dramatically, he presents the young Cleopatra, nearly twenty-one when she first met Caesar, as a girl of only sixteen.
Caesar and Cleopatra was also Shaw’s first attempt to put his idea of the Superman on the stage. Shaw’s notion of the Superman is of a kind of visitor from the future: a representative of the next stage of human evolution appearing on earth before his time. For an audience to feel his significance, he needed to appear in a society the audience could think of as primitive but also just like themselves; to strike contemporary listeners as one of us battling an ignorant past, but also as a superior being from a time yet unborn showing us how to become Supermen ourselves.
From his studies in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum Shaw reasoned that human nature was many centuries older and more primitive than most supposed, and that it might go on evolving for centuries more, until what passed for civilization in nineteenth-century Europe might seem as barbarous as ancient Egypt. He felt the highest form of human intelligence is one that feels its unity with this immense river of time, at home at once with Socrates, Shakespeare and Darwin; capable of stretching back in imagination to the dawn of history and forward to a world fit for supermen and superwomen. That is the state of mind into which he maneuvers us.
At the heart of the play is a very human conundrum: How do you live a good life? Caesar is the most powerful man in the world – we see him on the edge of action, in private moments, in political meetings and beginning a military skirmish – and always we see this fascinating human being trying to accomplish the impossible: ethical government. His distraction, and indeed the counter-figure to whom he is attracted, is Cleopatra, who learns from him how to make herself obeyed but remains a creature of impulse.
Caesar and Cleopatra is a comedy about a tragedy, whose full meaning we grasp only if we carry Antony and Cleopatra in our heads. As such it is a perfect pairing with the next installment of our “Toga Trilogy.” Their heroines are the same unteachable woman. The visitor from the future comes to alter the course of history if he can, to try to avert Shakespeare’s tragedy. For a moment, when she rises to his vision of a kingdom of the future at the source of the Nile, Caesar hopes he can give Cleopatra the mind of a great ruler. But a moment later, she proves herself a woman who lives only in the present, addicted to such instant gratifications as cruelty and revenge. She sees no value in futures. When her bright day is done, she will choose the dark.
There is no Shavian resolution here, only a sense of loss and foreboding as these two extraordinary characters move toward their own inevitable ends.
Our intention is to make the themes of the play predominate over the spectacle, creating a world where the consequences of cultural conquest and warfare are real. We hope it will also remind the audience that the conflict in the Middle East is as old as history, and that Shaw's play can be read as a primer on how to rule in difficult times.
I hope you enjoy tonight’s production.
George Hartpence
Historical Notes:
Egypt was one of the most troublesome areas of the Roman Empire in the first century BC, especially when ruled by the famous Cleopatra (69 – 30BC). The daughter of Ptolemy XII, she was the last monarch of the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt between the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC and its annexation by Rome in 31BC. Through Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra she became known as one of history’s great lovers, though most historians consider her political achievements more astonishing: the Greek biographer Plutarch commented, “Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but she had a thousand.” In history (though not in Shaw’s play), she became the lover of Julius Caesar when he came to Egypt in 48BC, bore a son by him, and lived for a time in Rome. After Caesar’s assassination she returned to Egypt, where she later became the lover and then wife of Caesar’s bigamous protégé Marcus Antonius (82 – 30BC). Besides Hannibal, Cleopatra was the only foreign ruler that Rome feared: Antony and Cleopatra’s defeat at Actium and their suicide the next year cleared the way for the Roman Empire of Julius Caesar’s nephew Octavian, who took the title Caesar Augustus.
Musical Note:
Most of this evening’s incidental music comes from two film scores composed by Sir Arthur Bliss – The Shape of Things to Come and Caesar and Cleopatra. A falling out between the composer and the director of the 1945 film Caesar and Cleopatra resulted in the rejection of Bliss’ proposed score in favor of another composer’s work. Tonight we hope to correct, at least in part, that injustice.
| Plot Synopsis - Antony and Cleopatra: Following the assassination of Julius Caesar and the battle of Philippi, Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar and Lepidus are the joint rulers of the known world.
Antony, however, is captivated by Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, and is neglecting his military responsibilities to spend time with her at her court in Alexandria, where they live a life of luxary and self-indulgence. This scandal is now the talk of Rome and has created a dangerous rift between Antony and young Octavius Caesar.
News comes from Rome that Fulvia, Antony's wife, is dead. More urgently, the power of the triumvirate is being challenged by Pompey, son of Julius Caesar's former rival, Pompey the great. Antony is forced to return to Rome and resume his responsibilities. When it is suggested that he should cement the alliance with Octavius by marrying his sister, Octavia, Antony agrees. His friend and comrade-in-arms Enobarbus, however, predicts that Antony will not be able to break with Cleopatra. Back in Egypt, the news of Antony's marriage sends Cleopatra into a jealous tirade.
On the brink of war, Antony and Octavius make peace with Pompey and celebrate the treaty with a feast. Shortly afterwards, however, Antony learns that not only has Octavius attacked Pompey after all, but he has also spoken scornfully of Antony in public and has had Lepidus imprisoned on dubious charges. Antony sends Octavia back to negotiate with her brother while he returns secretly to Alexandria.
News arrives in Rome that Antony and Cleopatra have crowned themselves and their children kings and queens in Alexandra. Antony's desertion of Octavia is the final straw. Octavius declares war on Egypt.
The Egyptian forces lose the sea-battle of Actium when Antony deserts the battle to follow Cleopatra's fleeing ship. Antony is consumed with shame and despair. However, hearing that Octavius has offered to make a secret treaty with Cleopatra, he rouses himself for a second, victorious battle.
On the eve of the third battle, Antony's soldiers are nervous and fear bad omens. Even the faithful Enobarbus deserts him for Octavius.
In the event, the Egyptian fleet surrenders and Antony, in his fury, accuses Cleopatra of betraying him to Octavius. She retreats from his anger to her monument and, hoping to bring him round, sends a false report that she is dead. On hearing this, however, Antony attempts suicide and is brought to Cleopatra's monument to die in her arms. Rather than be captured and enslaved by the Romans, Cleopatra also kills herself, using a poisonous snake brought to her concealed in a basket of figs.
With all his enemies eliminated, Octavius returns victorious to Rome.
Historical Character from Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra Bios:
Gaius Julius Caesar: Statesman, general and author, famous for the conquest of Gaul and his subsequent coup d`etat. Member of the First Triumverate to rule Rome. Laid the foundations of the Roman Imperial system. (100 – 44BC).
Cleopatra VII: Last monarch of the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt between the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC and its annexation by Rome in 31BC. (69 – 30BC).
Marcus Antonius: Julius Caesar’s protégé and Captain of Horse (second only to the Emperor as the highest ranking position in the Roman Empire) who served as a member of the Second Triumvirate that ruled Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar. (82 – 30BC)
Octavian (Caesar Augustus, Octavius Caesar): Nephew and heir to Julius Caesar. Member of the Second Triumvirate that ruled in Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Elected first emperor by the Senate of Rome in 27BC. Inherited a city of bricks and bequeathed an empire of marble. (63 BC – 14 AD)
Octavia: Sister to Octavian and wife of Marc Antony, she had two daughters by Antony. Divorced by Antony in 32BC. After the death of Cleopatra, Octavia took Antony’s two children by Cleopatra into her home and raised them as her own.
Pompey the Great: Also know as Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Married to Caesar’s only child, Julia, in 59BC who subsequently died in childbirth in 54BC. Member of the First Triumvirate (Caesar, Crassus, Pompey) who in 49BC led the armies of the Senate against Caesar when Caesar crossed the Rubicon, ignoring the Senate’s order to disband his armies and resign his commission in Gaul. (106 – 48BC)
Septimus Pompey: Pompey the Great’s son – a notable pirate who occupied Sicily after the murder of his father. After a brief alliance with Octavian and Antony, war again broke out and he was forced to flee. He was assassinated in Asia Minor in 34BC by Marc Antony’s officer, Scarus.
Marcus Lepidus: Third Triumvir with Marc Antony and Octavian who ruled the Roman Legions in Gaul and was later forced into public retirement by Octavian after publically laying claim to Sicily after the defeat of Septimus Pompey. (89 – 12BC)
Theodotus, the eunuch Pothinus, and the half-Greek general, Achillas:
Council of regency for the young king Ptolemy XIII and leaders of the Alexandrian Wars against Caesar
Ptolemy XIII: Younger brother and consort to Cleopatra VII and co-ruler of Egypt. Drowned in the Nile fleeing Caesar’s troops at the end of the Alexandrian Wars.
Lucius Septimius: Former captain of Pompey the Great. Assassinated Pompey on the order of Ptolemy XIII.
Domitius Enobarbus: A compilation of two officers who served Marc Antony – one loyal, one not. The name Aenobarbus meaning “red-bearded” associated him with the traditionally red-haired Judas Iscariot, the most celebrated traitor and suicide.
Ventidius: One of Antony’s leading officers. In 39BC sent by Antony to drive the Syrians out of Parthia.
Maecenas: Friend of Octavius and benefactor to Horace and Virgil.
Agrippa: Distinguished naval commander and admiral of the Roman Fleet at Actium.
Iras and Charmian: According to Plutarch, women of Cleopatra’s bedchamber who ruled the affairs of Antonius’ Empire.
Alexas: Greek minister to Cleopatra
Mardian: Cleopatra’s eunuch
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(to read the full review of this production by Stuart Duncan of The Princeton Packet, click the image of Curtis Kaine as Rufio above) | 
(to read the full review of this production by Stuart Duncan of The Princeton Packet, click the image of Carol Thompson as Cleopatra above) |
This page was last modified on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 |
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