FetiShakes
by Christian Baines
Those who missed what remains of Toronto’s Fetish Fair this year would do well to get down to Buddies for The Theatre Elusive’s energetic take on Antony and Cleopatra. But even if the wardrobe reads more like Priape’s Fall catalogue than Shakespeare, this production has its heart and its focus in the right place.
At a relatively lean two hours with no interval, this Antony & Cleopatra embodies that brand of provocative, youthful hunger more often applied to productions of Macbeth or Titus Andronicus. But it never veers off into excess violence or gore. Instead, director Rosanna Saracino favours minimalism, restricting her set to two seats of power and letting her actors do the rest. She encourages them to explore the play’s sensuality, and so they do. If that means scenes of beatings and whippings induce a sly smirk, rather than a wince of sympathy, so be it. It’s become a common trick in landing Shakespeare’s darker tragedies, to keep the show’s tongue firmly in cheek, and Saracino uses it well. The show’s tone remains consistent, yet never cheap or excessive in its campness, and while that might not please purists, it’s undeniably entertaining.
