Yu Jin Ko on Shakespeare's greatest lovers

Shakespeare scholar Yu Jin Ko didn't blink when I asked him to drive up from Wellesley College in Massachusetts to see the Stonington Opera House production of "Antony and Cleopatra." He said: "Yes! It's one of my favorite plays." This will be Ko's third year joining the Opera House Arts Shakespeare festival to participate in post-show audience conversations with the audience. You can read his thoughts from past years on "Much Ado about Nothing" and "Measure for Measure."  Ko, members of the creative team and I will talk with the audience after the performance of "Antony and Cleopatra" 7 p.m. Friday, July 13 at the Burnt Cove Church in Stonington, Maine. The show opens Thursday July 12 and runs through July 22. The following is an excerpt from an e-mail exchange with Ko. 

The Stonington Opera House production of "Antony and Cleopatra" is very intentionally set in a church, and many of the scenes make use of the church as "pulpit" -- even though there is no pulpit in the church. Is "A&C" a good "church" play? 

 It's not a "good" church play -- it's a great church play. The main characters continually assert a spiritual, transcendent dimension to their love, even as they heap disdain on Roman moral attitudes that befit a "pulpit." 

You wrote this about Antony and Cleopatra: "The heart of their world is the world of their hearts." Tell us more about this idea. Are they the greatest lovers in all of Shakespeare? 

Yes, they are the greatest lovers in Shakespeare. (They make Romeo and Juliet look like the young kids that they are.) They love to use the world as their stage, but the world that ultimately matters to them -- the "new heaven, new earth" that they seek -- is the one they create together through their unruly but sublime romance.  

You once mentioned to me that "A&C" is one of your favorite Shakespeare plays. Why?

It's the ultimate fantasy of sorts -- if you can be delinquent on an epic scale, you can achieve sublimity and redemption.   

What scene or character will you most be watching for in this production? Is there a place in the play that has to be highlighted, heightened or done perfectly for the rest of the play to fly?

I love every part of this play, but I'll of course watch Cleopatra most closely.  I like to joke with my students that either they're in love with Cleopatra or they're wrong.

Who is more powerful: Antony or Cleopatra? 

 Cleopatra. He always succumbs to her in the end, and it's Cleopatra who ultimately determines how we view Antony.  

Cleopatra's Snake

When Melody Bates steps onto stage next week as Cleopatra in the Opera House Arts production of "Antony and Cleopatra," she will at some point have with her Figgs, a three-foot, pound-and-a-half ball python. Eventually -- spoiler alert! -- the snake will be Cleopatra's undoing in what is surely the most famous snakebite suicide in literary history.  Bates has been tracking her experience as Cleopatra in her blog, including an entry about Figgs and his provenance. It's no surprise that the OHA creative team -- known for its derring-do -- wanted a live snake onstage for the dramatic finale. But what did surprise me is that OHA artistic director Judith Jerome found the snake in Maine in the Herp Lab of 7th-grade life science teacher Doug Kranich at Millinocket Middle School. Kranich's classroom is filled with reptiles -- teaching tools for a man who loves all things living. Figgs is a recent addition to the collection -- adopted by Kranich from a former student who was moving and couldn't take the snake along. I caught up with Kranich by phone in Texas, where he and another friend were rattle-snake hunting. "How do you hunt for rattle snakes?" I asked Kranich. "In a car," he answered. He and his snake-handling companion have only one thing in mind with the rattle snakes: taking pictures. Krannich and his wife will attend the closing night performance of "Antony and Cleopatra" and escort Figgs back to Millinocket. The following is an edited and condensed version of my conversation with Kranich.

What did you think when you received the request for a snake to be in a theatrical production?

It’s not like any request I’ve ever had. It truly caught my attention. My name is listed on the Maine Herpetological Society website, and we get a lot of strange calls. But this is something I had never heard of before. Judith [Jerome] told me what she wanted, and I had just been given the ball python. I thought: This just might work because these snakes are noted for their docile behavior.

Had you heard of Cleopatra and her dramatic death by snakebite?

Well, sure. Yes, I have. But as far as somebody using a live snake in a play, no, I had never heard of that.

When I saw the pictures of the snake around Melody’s neck, I got a little scared. Tell me why I shouldn’t be scared.

It’s a matter of faith. You’ve got to trust their demeanor. If we wanted to we could find a ball python that might not fit the mold, but generally they’re extremely docile and inoffensive. If anything, they want to hide their heads most of the time. Generally they are very reliable. You know people whose personalities are such that you know they’re not going to bite your head off. This snake is the same way. I know that’s a kind of strange connection, but it’s true.

Isn’t it also true that some animals – a snake or a pit bull – get a bad rap, that if we really understood their breed or were better informed than just from the media, we wouldn’t be afraid of them?

Everything you hear about these animals in the media is negative. Everything. They are represented as evil, as something to create fear, as a mystery, as danger – and it’s totally false in most cases. That’s what we have been conditioned to believe. We always hear about the pit-bull attacks. Nobody cares about them when they’re nice. It paints a bad picture for all of them – it’s the same way with snakes.

How did you prepare the snake for his debut at the Stonington Opera House?

Ball pythons are known for their fasting ability. I know of ball pythons that didn’t eat for a year. That’s hard to believe but they’re fairly heavy-bodied snakes. They have a lot of fat reserves. Having a month without any food is not a problem. I gave Judith all the basic housing he needed and said she didn’t have to worry about feeding because he’s been extra fed for the month. The only mistake you can ever make in picking one up is if you had held mice, and the snake would be misled by the stimulus of a food item because of the scent on your hand.

Why would someone want a snake for a pet? 

When I was a kid, I didn't have dogs and cats. But I loved everything under the sun that was alive. That probably has a lot to do with my teaching because I love life science and everything about it. I liked snakes because they were different. Most people like dogs and cats for their human characteristics--affection, answering to calls, loyalty. Reptiles and snakes in particular don't follow any of that. They don't hear. Even though some people will stake their lives on it, snakes are not affectionate. They don't create bonds with their owners like dogs do -- although that's a very controversial statement. I love them because of their different characteristics. That's what motivated me.

Opera House Arts presents "Antony and Cleopatra" July 12-22 at the Burnt Cove Church on Deer Isle in Stonington, Maine. For tickets, click here. Snake photos courtesy Melody Bates. Doug Kranich photo used by permission of Doug Kranich.   

Cleopatra the Superstar

I've conducted enough book discussions in Maine and elsewhere to know the show-up rate can be discouraging in rural areas especially in summer, especially in the evening. Imagine my surprise when more than 20 locals showed up, however, to discuss Stacy Schiff's biography "Cleopatra: A Life" last week in Stonington. What? Not even Shakespeare himself has drawn that many fans to a book gathering in my time of working with Opera House Arts and its annual Shakespeare production.

But this group was ready to rock. Most of the participants read the book or some part of it or were preparing to read it before the production of "Antony and Cleopatra," which opens July 12 at the Stonington Opera House. Many appreciated the impressive details in the biography. Some found them tedious. We grappled with the grey areas that imaginative biographies exist in: What can we really know about Cleopatra since the source material is so scant? What leeway does a biographer have with the facts? Where do fact and fiction meet in a biography?

In the end, however, it was clear that the attraction -- to the book and the play -- was the merging of legend and reality. Who among us didn't imagine walking down the main boulevard of Alexandria in Cleopatra's day or seeing her barge on the Nile or witnessing her unapologetically blatant glory in affairs with two married men? It was Cleopatra who drew this crowd. They wanted to talk about her, think about her, imagine her, exhume her.

And why? She's a strong woman who lived in a time when a woman could be the richest person in the world, when she could unflinchingly and unquestioned play politics alongside men. And that's not all.

This year's "Antony and Cleopatra" has a superstar, and the book group proved it. Cleopatra is one of the Top Ten Most Famous Women in History -- one ahead of Joan of Arc and second only to Mother Theresa, whom Shakespeare surely would have figured out a way to dramatize had he been born 400 years later. Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Mother Theresa: There's a lineup for you. They are women who didn't validate barriers, who did't recognize "no" (unless they were the ones saying it) and who changed the world through both action and iconography (or, as we call it today, branding).

It did not escape anyone's notice that most participants in the book discussion were women. (Only two men.) Yes, women are big readers. But they are also -- all these years later -- still looking for role models -- and Cleopatra, though not admired by everyone in our group, is a powerful one when it comes to politics, leadership and -- some might argue -- sexual liberation and strategy. She was a superstar in life. She's a superstar in legend. And I'm pretty confident she's going to be a superstar on the stage at the Stonington Opera House.

Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra and the goodie bag

By Alicia Antead
OHA Critic-in-Residence

Stacy Schiff's book "Cleopatra: A Life" is a sweepingly imaginative biography of one of the most captivating and ubiquitous historical figures who ever lived. Cleopatra VII was wealthy, cunning, charismatic, sexually expressed and politically powerful. The portrait Schiff paints in her nonfiction book, however, is different from the queen Shakespeare portrays theatrically in "Antony and Cleopatra." Schiff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, has said Cleopatra's subjects thought of her as a goddess and generally compares her not to Sarah Palin or Hillary Clinton but to Oprah. As for Shakespeare, Cleopatra comes after Gertrude, Portia and Lady Macbeth -- though it's doubtful many would refer to her as Shakespeare's most compelling female character. Schiff's 2010 book -- a Best Book of the Year in the New York Times Book Review -- will be the focus of a public discussion 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 20. (Reservations required.) The writer agreed to answer a few questions in conjunction with the book discussion and the Stonington Opera House production of "Antony and Cleopatra" running July 12-22 at the Burnt Cove Church in Stonington, Maine.

Since Shakespeare's kittenish portrayal of Cleopatra doesn't match your portrayal of a tactically powerful and intelligent queen, is there any way to correct the myth that Shakespeare hands an actor? 

Shakespeare plundered the historical sources completely and plotted brilliantly; in the case of "A&C" he lifted whole passages from Plutarch, which had just been translated into English. Shakespeare had no intention of correcting the historical record -- that's not what art is for -- and I don't think we should have any intention of correcting him. A lot has been written (a lot I haven't read has been written, I might add) on how an Elizabethan playwright approached women and women in power. It is interesting that Shakespeare was writing at the time of a female monarch and still leaves us a kittenish Cleopatra. In any event, I prefer his kitten queen to G.B. Shaw's. 

Stacy Schiff
PHOTO: Elena Seibert

What quality in Cleopatra would you most like to see exhumed today?
Two things impress me over and over about Cleopatra. The first is how she marches ahead without being hindered by her gender. Twice she lives in all-male military camps; she surrounded herself with male courtiers; she plays by Roman rules, which made for a very male game. She acknowledges her gender -- she has that gift for having children after all, and at the most opportune times -- but doesn't seem constrained by motherhood or femininity. She's also utterly, invariably accommodating. That's true both in her approach to her subjects, for whom she manipulates the imagery and the mission statements, and with the Romans, where she adjusts her loyalties nimbly and gracefully. There's no grandstanding and no gridlock. She's a master of opportunity and of compromise. One more thing I might add: A little charisma goes a long way. She was an inveterate charmer, at least when she wanted to be.

What would you most like to witness if you could go back in time and hang out in Cleopatra's world?
Any number of people have told me, on reading the book, that they want to move to Hellenistic Alexandria. I do, too. I'd like to walk down the streets of the perfume district. Ideally one would want to witness a Ptolemaic feast, as Cleopatra's family invented and dominated the hospitality business; wretched excess was their specialty. And you especially wanted a goodie bag, the horse or furniture or golden goblet with which the lucky guest headed home. 

Ten Reasons to Love Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra"

By Alicia Anstead

OHA Critic-in-Residence

Every time I read Shakespeare – and by “read” I mean drop myself imaginatively into the world of the characters – the play I’m reading becomes my favorite. As I direct my attention to the Stonington Opera House annual Shakespeare festival, my new favorite play is “Antony and Cleopatra.” (Move over “Coriolanus,” which was my favorite play last month.) I’m a little fickle that way – never landing definitively on any one of the Bard’s plays as a favorite for very long. It’s a little like trying to choose a favorite child: You shouldn’t do it because it lessens the value of the other kids. And in Shakespeare’s case, that’s upwards of 40 plays.

The best approach for me is to fall in love with a play every time I read it.

In an effort to get you to fall in love with “Antony and Cleopatra” – assuming you need a nudge – I’m sharing my Top Ten Reasons for Loving “Antony and Cleopatra.” The Stonington Opera House production of “Antony and Cleopatra” runs July 12-22 at the Burnt Cove Church in Stonington. But keep checking back here at Shake Stonington for interviews with Stacy Schiff, whose biography “Cleopatra” will be the focus of a book discussion June 20, for interviews with actors and scholars, and for more commentary and conversation about the play.

My Top Ten Reasons for Loving “Antony and Cleopatra”

1.     Cleopatra is hot. She’s got it all: money, power, sex, a great hairstyle. She's my new favorite historical character. 

2.     Antony is a real dude. He loves his woman, loves war and says crazy-sexy things to his lover like: “What sport to-night?” I know, I know: He's not such a great husband. And if he were, we'd have no drama. 

3.     Passion rules. These characters go for it every time – not just the leads but everyone. Even the servants. Things going badly for the master? I’ll kill myself, too. To the death!

4.     Morals be damned. Adultery never looked so appealing. It doesn’t end well. (Does it ever?) But Antony and Cleopatra are having a great time together. And it’s fun while it lasts.  

5.     Where are we now? A&C has 42 scenes. That’s more than any other of Shakespeare’s plays. The distance between Rome and Egypt has never been so easy to traverse.

6.     The fake death trick. It didn’t work for Romeo and Juliet, and it doesn’t work for Antony and Cleopatra either. But it’s fun to see Shakespeare still rolling out the technique. You can almost hear Cleopatra say: “Oh crap! What have I done now?”

7.     Watch out for the snake. [Spoiler alert!] Is that a European asp or an Egyptian asp? (With apologies to Monty Python.) Rumor has it that Opera House Arts is hiring a live snake for Cleopatra’s famous death-by-snake-bite scene. Only Cleopatra could have the cojones to share the stage with an animal -- and not get upstaged. 

8.     Middle-age star power. At the time of this play, both Antony and Cleopatra are middle-aged. Are they slowing down? Hell no! (They die in the end, but what a way to go.)

9.     If it's a tragedy, why am I laughing? The play has a structural similarity to Shakespeare’s comedies (flipping between Rome and Egypt is similar to flipping between the court and the forest, duty and freedom). And then there’s Enobarbus. The guy cracks me up. Plus he's deep.

10. The poetry rocks. Shakespeare had already written "Hamlet," "King Lear" and "Macbeth" by the time he wrote "Antony and Cleopatra." His poetry chops are hot. 

Caesar is master of the sound bite

“Rome," in our play, "is a world of rhetoric, brilliantly structured speech; Egypt is unconsidered, from the heart." Caesar is master of the sound bite, and Grant Chapman as our Caesar is so perfectly calculated and chilly you could chip him--though you wouldn't guess it from this photo, where he is in the back row, second from the right. On day 3 the full cast of A&C is together again, working their way slowly through the text, history, politics. Follow Melody Bates' A&C blog, too, which she started even before rehearsals began: http://melodyandcleopatra.wordpress.com/ 

Today 10 Real Star Acts has only four single actors, those who are not doubling. They are developing bits and the “family” relationships. They are brilliant, and Esther Adams among them. She is one of the overlapping actors, in both shows, and is completely holding her own in this professional cast. See her in the A&C cast photo above right, plus here is Aryeh’s daily:

So long actors, Triskelioin, and New York for now, as I am on my way to Maine . . .

Anyone get the feeling that your movement is not your own?

Both casts, for Antony and Cleopatra, and for 10 Real Star Acts, are rehearsing at Triskelion in Williamsburg. Four actors overlap the two shows. Day two sees Antony and Cleopatra, Enobarbus, and Caesar working in one room and the first rehearsal for Vaudeville in another. Director Jeffrey Frace begins the Vaudeville rehearsal as he always does with physical ensemble work. This is a particularly ensemble driven show because, building on an outline Frace has prepared and character work that  began in auditions, this cast is developing the show. “Anyone get the feeling that your movement is not your own? That’s a good feeling. Keep it,” he calls into the early work. Good general advice, I’d say. Each actor takes the hot seat in turn and does a character interview with Frace. All of us ask questions and the characters and relationship visibly grow as actors inspire and feed off each other.

Here is what Frace wrote to them before rehearsals began: “Here is a starting place for our script. It's an outline that serves to explain how we might deal with time (1912/2012), some key plot points, how acts may flow into one another. The acts aren't set, nor are they exhaustive. We'll start building these right away, but you may be inspired to expand, explore and offer completely new things. And that will be great. I will offer assignments, guidance, space and ingredients to create material. We will all create material together. I will be the lead editor & organizer of the material. It will be great if you all, in the spirit of vaudeville entrepreneurs, come with stuff that you really want to do. For example, if there's a song you really, really want to sing, come make a pitch. I honor strong impulses, and how the song ends up in the show may not be what any of us expect at first, but this is a valuable component of how this kind of show gets built.”

Here is Aryeh’s Day 2 photo. He promises one per day and I will post these.