Cleopatra! Now there was a woman for you. Much has been said about her, but now Joy Yvonne Jones lets her speak for herself in her own adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” at Moxie Theatre. This is a joint production of Moxie and Loud Fridge Theatre Group.
Antony? Oh, him. Yes, much is also said about him, but he only shows up here in the background, on video. But then, everybody else shows up as background except for Cleo’s maid Charmian, played by Kayla Adorno. And Charmian does not speak. Oh, and a few audience members recruited at the beginning to occasionally stand and say something.
But this show is really only about Cleopatra and her determination to be capital I important. But she does stoop to mention some of the men in her life, Antony obviously chief among them (portrayed by DeAndre Simmons), but also Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and and his nephew Octavian (who gets the throne after Caesar dies (Cleo’s response: “Who the fuck is Octavian and why does he matter?”)
Some of the show is done on film, some just told by the lady herself with occasional appointed words given to a chosen group of women recruited at the beginning.
But the whole story is told through Cleopatra’s perspective, even her complaints about the children she mothered by various of the important men in her life.
Though most of this play is meant to show us how important (okay, self-important) Cleopatra was (“There is no limit to my ambition,” she assures us), the show ends with what may be the most important line of all: “You will never forget me.”
You won’t soon forget this amazing production, either, or the fine job director Andréa Agosto did.
Grab your ticket now. The show closes on September 7.
Joy Yvonne Jones as Cleopatra
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