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In its towering central characters, vast geographical and historical sweep, and its variety of style and mood, Anthony and Cleopatra is perhaps the most ambitious of Shakespeare's designs. Yet the degree and nature of its success remain surprisingly contentious, and performances of the play have seldom matched the extravagant expectations of its admirers. Michael Neill's wide-ranging introduction from a number of angles, including those of gender and race. He examines the sources and discusses the theatrical challenge presented by Shakespeare's technique, with its extraordinary tensions between rhetoric and action. A full stage history further illustrates its theatrical fortunes; both here and in the extensive commentary this edition illuminates the play's theatrical dimensions as well as the rich complexity of its poetic language.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
To some, Shakespeare's greatest tragedy, to others a closet drama and even a problem play, Antony and Cleopatra seems to possess, like its heroine, 'infinite variety'.
Despite its obvious ability to enthral and perplex, the play has had a relatively impoverished stage history. Reasons for its lack of success are, again, varied: it is 'unactable'; its most successful post-war Cleopatras (Peggy Ashcroft and Judy Dench) have been 'too English' to suggest exotic allure, etc. Michael Neill's edition does a thorough job charting the play's troubled stage life, even if his performance section is overlong and not well integrated into his discussion. I, for one, found the composite review notices (often synthesising two or three individual reactions into a single response) almost suffocating in their detail. Those readers particularly interested in past productions and their reception, however, will be spared much trawling through press cuttings.
This edition's real strength lies is its formidable and wide-ranging Introduction, often drawing upon radical recent criticism (by the likes of Janet Adelman and Jonathan Dollimore). Some of the more rewarding ideas include the play's relationship to mythic archetypes (Omphale and Hercules, Mars and Venus); Antony's wrestling with (male) identity; Roman constructions of 'otherness'; and the play's parallels with other Shakespearean tragedies - especially with its 'successor and companion piece, Coriolanus'.
This is yet another Oxford Shakespeare with a baffling bibliography, however. Despite making fullest use of a book by the above-mentioned author Janet Adelman, she is not listed here. (Unlike Styan Thirby, whose unpublished annotations of C18 editions earn him four entries.) Puzzling.
At times dense and challenging, the author's fondness for Scottish dialect words can obfuscate further (the term 'eldritch humour' appears three times). Nonetheless, Neill's Antony is indispensable to any serious student of the play.
Despite its obvious ability to enthral and perplex, the play has had a relatively impoverished stage history. Reasons for its lack of success are, again, varied: it is 'unactable'; its most successful post-war Cleopatras (Peggy Ashcroft and Judy Dench) have been 'too English' to suggest exotic allure, etc. Michael Neill's edition does a thorough job charting the play's troubled stage life, even if his performance section is overlong and not well integrated into his discussion. I, for one, found the composite review notices (often synthesising two or three individual reactions into a single response) almost suffocating in their detail. Those readers particularly interested in past productions and their reception, however, will be spared much trawling through press cuttings.
This edition's real strength lies is its formidable and wide-ranging Introduction, often drawing upon radical recent criticism (by the likes of Janet Adelman and Jonathan Dollimore). Some of the more rewarding ideas include the play's relationship to mythic archetypes (Omphale and Hercules, Mars and Venus); Antony's wrestling with (male) identity; Roman constructions of 'otherness'; and the play's parallels with other Shakespearean tragedies - especially with its 'successor and companion piece, Coriolanus'.
This is yet another Oxford Shakespeare with a baffling bibliography, however. Despite making fullest use of a book by the above-mentioned author Janet Adelman, she is not listed here. (Unlike Styan Thirby, whose unpublished annotations of C18 editions earn him four entries.) Puzzling.
At times dense and challenging, the author's fondness for Scottish dialect words can obfuscate further (the term 'eldritch humour' appears three times). Nonetheless, Neill's Antony is indispensable to any serious student of the play.
Format:Paperback
Complicated, difficult, problematic: Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra has been described as all those things. This Oxford edition is useful for bringing out some of the sophisticated and complex ways of reading this text that move it away from being just a 'love' play.
Recent critical work has examined the text's engagement with race, with gender, with myth and with reputation. This is a play in which the audience's ability to judge is itself a crucial aspect of how we 'read' the play, which cannot be disassociated from what we already know about our protagonists.
These Oxford single editions are excellent for their combination of a reliable text with an informed and scholarly introduction and notes.
Recent critical work has examined the text's engagement with race, with gender, with myth and with reputation. This is a play in which the audience's ability to judge is itself a crucial aspect of how we 'read' the play, which cannot be disassociated from what we already know about our protagonists.
These Oxford single editions are excellent for their combination of a reliable text with an informed and scholarly introduction and notes.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book arrived promptly and in perfect condition. It was offered at a reduced price and, in addition, there was no charge for the postage making it a very economical purchase.
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