Genesius Guild's “Antony & Cleopatra" at Lincoln Park -- July 12 through 20.
Saturday, July 12, through Sunday, July 20
Lincoln Park, 1120 40th Street, Rock Island IL
An Elizabethan classic that spans numerous genres and offers its actors a wide variety of complex and thrilling roles, William Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra enjoys a July 12 through 20 run in the great outdoors of Rock Island's Lincoln Park, this meaty and juicy entertainment having previously lured to the stage the legendary likes of Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Hopkins, and Judi Dench.
First performed around 1607 by the King's Men at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre, Antony & Cleopatra made its first appearance in print with the First Folio published in 1623, under the title The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra. Shakespeare's plot is based on Thomas North's 1579 English translation of Plutarch's Lives (in Ancient Greek) and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Sicilian revolt to Cleopatra's suicide during the War of Actium. The main antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony's fellow triumvirs of the Second Triumvirate and the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The tragedy of Anthony & Cleopatra is mainly set in the Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Egypt and is characterized by swift shifts in geographical location and linguistic register as it alternates between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and a more pragmatic, austere Rome.
Many consider Shakespeare's Cleopatra, whom the Roman general Enobarbus describes as having "infinite variety," as one of the most complex and fully developed female characters in the playwright's body of work. She is frequently vain and histrionic enough to provoke an audience almost to scorn; at the same time, Shakespeare invests her and Antony with tragic grandeur. These contradictory features have led to famously divided critical responses, and it's difficult to classify Antony & Cleopatra as belonging to a single genre. It can be described as a history play (though it does not completely adhere to historical accounts), as a tragedy, as a comedy, as a romance, and according to some critics, a problem play. All that can be said with certainty is that it is a Roman play, and perhaps a sequel to another of Shakespeare's tragedies, Julius Caesar.
Directing Antony & Cleopatra's Lincoln Park staging is Genesius Guild veteran Alaina Pascarella, who also helmed last year's production of its forebear Julius Caesar, as well as the company's 2019 production of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Hamlet. Antony a portrayed by Justin Raver, a castmate in such Richmond Hill Barn Theatre productions as All My Sons and Escanaba in da Moonlight, while Cleopatra is played by Irene Herzig, her previous performances in Shakespeare including roles in Genesius Guild's Twelfth Night and Coriolanus. A full 19 additional area talents, meanwhile, complete the Antony & Cleopatra ensemble: Kate Almquist; Andrew Bruning; Stephanie Burrough; Guy Cabell; Pam Cantrell; Jesslyn Cohen; Alex Ewing; Kate Farence; Mattie Gelaude; Scot Gehret; Rodrigo Guevara; L.C. Kent; Jacob Lund; Shalom Moore; Joe Sager; Liz Sager; Anna Schneider; Avalon Willowbloom; and Vaughn Willowbloom.
Genesius Guild's Antony & Cleopatra will be performed in Rock Island's Lincoln Park July 12 through 20, with performances Saturdays and Sundays at 7 p.m. Although admission is free, donations are gratefully accepted, and more information is available by visiting Genesius.org.
