Critics: Resistance Is Futile To Stewart's Antony

Reviews of Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard)'s Antony and Cleopatra at Stratford are very positive, both of Stewart's performance and of the Royal Shakespeare Company's staging of numerous works of Shakespeare this season.

The Patrick Stewart Network has compiled a list of many of the reviews, which include the following comments:

• "Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter are individually compelling. More importantly, this pair find each other essential," noted The Observer. "Stewart's performance will beam him up in the minds of theatre-goers. Gnarled and wry, battle-scarred without swaggering, he disconcerts his younger comrades by his nonchalance."

• The Guardian praised Stewart's balance in the role, saying his "superb, grey-wigged Antony leaves you in no doubt that he is in thrall to his Egyptian dish" but also that "Antony is a soldier equally at ease in a world of male camaraderie, and the unforgettable feature of his performance is the false jauntiness with which he masks his despair after the professional disgrace at Actium."

• "If one wishes Patrick Stewart had tackled Antony when he was 10 years younger, his is a powerful and moving performance, particularly in the projection of the hero's scalding shame," stated The Independent, which adds, "There isn't a weak link in [the] cast."

• The Times Online agreed, calling Stewart "a less obvious, oldish Antony, with fuzzy white hair...his years bring an added pathetic quality to the soldier’s fall", though the review notes that "he has to work hard to stand out, however, for there are so many other superlative performances."

• And The Evening Standard warned, "Resistance is futile", declaring, "Antony in Patrick Stewart's remarkable performance speaks a helpless and despairing commentary on his decline and fall from ageing...I cannot remember seeing an Antony so deep in melancholia or self-disgust."

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!