Antony and Cleopatra will play at the Jacques Frank theatre from 19 to 23 May. Set as a ‘future history’ in the 2030s, the show will portray a modern-day autocrat, Octavian, facing off against the lovers of the title in a battle for the soul of Europe. Get your tickets now!
In our shows, we like to highlight Shakespearean themes that might be more relevant for modern audiences. As our October 2024 show Measure for Measure considered how sexuality intersects with power and as our January 2024 show Julius Caesar explored how populism subverts democracy, Antony and Cleopatra will focus on how disinformation and AI, if left unchecked, could serve as a road leading from populism to dictatorship.
Historians note that Gaius Octavius’ war against his rival Antony was in part a disinformation war, and arguably one of the most successful disinformation wars in history. Among many examples, he compelled the Roman Senate in 32 BC to declare war against Cleopatra, not Antony. By doing so, he portrayed a Roman civil war as a fight against Egypt, a devious foreign enemy. His narratives lived on in his memoirs, now lost to us. But they influenced later accounts that survived, most famously Plutarch’s Life of Antony. Many centuries later, Shakespeare would use Plutarch’s work as the basis for his play.
Had Shakespeare been a lesser genius, he might have repeated the disinformation narratives about Cleopatra that Octavian Caesar Augustus promoted. But he could not help but portray Cleopatra as a real human being, with her own goals, passions, and contradictions. Among other themes, Antony and Cleopatra will explore this tension in a text that, at times, seems ambivalent about whether Cleopatra was an evil archetype or a tragic heroine.
Post expires on Saturday May 23rd, 2026