SHAKESPEARE’S OTHER TRAGIC LOVERS JOIN ROMEO AND JULIET IN REPERTORY AT OSF

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA OPENS AT THE NEW THEATRE ON APRIL 5

 
Ashland, Ore.—William Shakespeare’s epic love story, Antony and Cleopatra, will open at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 5 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s New Theatre. The production joins Romeo and Juliet, Continental Divide, David Edgar’s world premiere two-play cycle, and Noël Coward’s Present Laughter in repertory.  Directed by OSF Associate Artistic Director Penny Metropulos, the show will run through November 2.
     Antony and Cleopatra, like Romeo and Juliet, is the tale of two impassioned lovers, doomed by the relationships of the world in which they live. But unlike the youth of Shakespeare’s earlier tale, the older Antony and Cleopatra play out their tragic story among warring countries, and their relationship stirs jealousies and hostilities in the Roman and Egyptian political world, where empires, kings and queens are raised and overthrown by shifting alliances and liaisons.
     For the first time in OSF’s 68-year history, a production of Antony and Cleopatra sequentially follows a production of Julius Caesar. Audiences who saw Julius Caesar last season can continue with the story of Mark
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Antony. In Antony and Cleopatra, the Roman Empire is governed by Mark Antony, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Octavius Caesar. Mark Antony rules the Eastern provinces, including Egypt, where he has fallen passionately in love with the alluring and astute Cleopatra, descended from Ptolemy and the last of ten generations of Macedonian Greeks to rule Egypt.
     Antony and Cleopatra covers events that take place over 10 years and across vast continents, and this adaptation by Director Metropulos, Dramaturg Douglas Langworthy and Head of Voice and Text Scott Kaiser brings this sprawling saga into sharp focus. Staged in the New Theatre with a cast of 12 actors playing 15 characters, this epic work is illuminated through the language, the simple grandeur of the set by OSF Principal Scenic Designer Richard L. Hay and the elegant costumes designed by guest artist Andrew V. Yelusich (designer for last season’s Julius Caesar). Together, with the lighting design by OSF Resident Designer Robert Peterson, the director and design team have created a sense of infinite breadth and timeless antiquity—a world where the visible touches the land of immortality.
     Music composition and sound design is by Larry Delinger and Dennis Kambury. Mr. Delinger and Mr. Kambury collaborated on last season’s music composition and design for Julius Caesar, and Mr. Delinger’s composition was selected for inclusion in the 2003 Prague Quadrennial Scenography Exposition.
     The cast includes Armando Durán as Mark Antony, Judith-Marie Bergan as Cleopatra, Kevin Kenerly as Octavius Caesar, Robert Vincent Frank as Lepidus, and Duane Boutté as Pompey. Other cast members are Richard Howard, Danforth Comins, Crystal Fox, G. Valmont Thomas, Nancy Rodriguez, John Pribyl, and U. Jonathan Toppo.
     Many of the members of the Antony and Cleopatra cast are also playing in Romeo and Juliet. Kevin Kenerly is Romeo, Nancy Rodriguez is Juliet, Judith-Marie Bergan is Lady Capulet, Robert Vincent Frank is Escalus, Duane Boutte plays Mercutio, Danforth Comins is Benvolio and Richard Howard plays Friar Laurence.
     Previews for Antony and Cleopatra are at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 2, 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 4 and opening is 8 p.m. Saturday, April 5. Tickets remain available for all shows. To reserve your tickets, call 541-482-4331, or visit the Box Office at 15 South Pioneer Street, Ashland. Please check ticket availability and other season information at www.osfashland.org.