Adapting Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra' for opera
Get an insider’s look at adapting a Shakespeare play for opera with this blog post by the dramaturg and libretto consultant for the new John Adams opera of “Antony and Cleopatra.”
The Queen of the Night: The infinite variety of Cleopatra
In the image above, Constance Collier, magnificent as the dying Cleopatra, sits on her throne in a dimly-lit room, light sparkling off her crown, belt and spangled train. This 1906-07 London production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is considered a…
Cleopatra and Fake News: How ancient Roman political needs created a mythic temptress
The Roman distaste of powerful women, their misunderstanding of the Egyptian way of life, and Octavian’s political need to consolidate his rise to dictator created our image of Cleopatra today.
Rome’s encounter with Egypt in Antony and Cleopatra
In this excerpt from “Shakespeare’s Roman Trilogy,” Paul Cantor writes about the Romanization of Egypt and the Egyptization of Rome in “Antony and Cleopatra.”