Power and Persuasion (Alchemy Actors Company)
Philosophy House, August 14-21
Shakespeare’s plays are so often about power – who has it; who wants it; and what they are prepared to do to get it. This theme is extensively explored in a series of extracts from a selection of the playwright’s dramas in Power and Persuasion. John Bach and Mel Dodge enact these vignettes with palpable emotion. The venue of Philosophy House is perfect as the audience walk up a sweeping staircase and into a world of heightened reality where issues are argued from every angle.
Each of the five pieces are performed in the traverse so you watch one then another like a tennis match or a fencing bout as the actors serve and volley; thrust and parry the barbed comments and cunning appeals. Tipping this balance like a see-saw they approach and withdraw or circle one another, sneaking up from behind or breaking away as in a fervent tango.
The actors are dressed in black and change their characters through their movement and expression rather than their dress. Small costume adjustments allow a shawl to represent Queen Katherine or a bright red ribbon tied around the waist to indicate the blood-lust of Lady Macbeth. Bach twists his own back into the deformity of Richard III or toys casually with an apple as the confident suitor Petruchio.
Oberon and Titania begin the evening with the scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream in which they battle over the changeling child. This episode is often cut from full-length productions, although I wonder why if it can be made so alluring as this. Nature itself is perturbed by their duelling, and their whirling, twisting movements are fluid and lithe, verging on hypnotic.
I’ve never read nor seen Shakespeare’s Henry VII so this extract is a real treat. Bach is all calm composure and assumed deference as his Cardinal Wolsey approaches Dodge’s Queen Katherine and bids her to grant King Henry a divorce so that he can marry Anne Boleyn. Knowing how much she stands to lose, Katherine refuses and her inner turmoil writhes passionately beneath her mask-like face. This would be an excellent piece for an audition and I mentally file it for future reference.
Hilary Norris directs a selection of scenes from Macbeth from the moment Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy of the witches to the murder of Duncan and the onset of madness. Highlighted by an intense and eerie soundscape (James Dunlop), this piece has chilling power and Lady Macbeth uses all the emotional weapons in her arsenal (from seduction to ridicule) to persuade.
The actors wrestle both physically and verbally through Taming of the Shrew. Bach is a commanding and confident Petruchio with just a hint of cruelty while Dodge is truly tempestuous as Kate. The constant ebb and flow movement resembles the erosion of waves upon a shore and, when the couple grapples on the floor, I can’t help but think of the beach scene in From Here to Eternity.
According to the programme notes, Lyndee-Jane Rutherford has never directed Shakespeare before. Judging from this excerpt from Richard III which befits her slightly melodramatic style, this is definitely a direction she should explore. Bach’s mellow tones suit the tyrant king perfectly and Dodge is credibly distraught as the grieving Anne. The intensity of hatred underpinning the formal courtship leaves a lasting impression as the final of the quintuplet. As we descend the stairs back to the rain-washed streets I believe this really is a ‘brave new world that has such people in it.’
Each of the five pieces are performed in the traverse so you watch one then another like a tennis match or a fencing bout as the actors serve and volley; thrust and parry the barbed comments and cunning appeals. Tipping this balance like a see-saw they approach and withdraw or circle one another, sneaking up from behind or breaking away as in a fervent tango.
The actors are dressed in black and change their characters through their movement and expression rather than their dress. Small costume adjustments allow a shawl to represent Queen Katherine or a bright red ribbon tied around the waist to indicate the blood-lust of Lady Macbeth. Bach twists his own back into the deformity of Richard III or toys casually with an apple as the confident suitor Petruchio.
Oberon and Titania begin the evening with the scene from Midsummer Night’s Dream in which they battle over the changeling child. This episode is often cut from full-length productions, although I wonder why if it can be made so alluring as this. Nature itself is perturbed by their duelling, and their whirling, twisting movements are fluid and lithe, verging on hypnotic.I’ve never read nor seen Shakespeare’s Henry VII so this extract is a real treat. Bach is all calm composure and assumed deference as his Cardinal Wolsey approaches Dodge’s Queen Katherine and bids her to grant King Henry a divorce so that he can marry Anne Boleyn. Knowing how much she stands to lose, Katherine refuses and her inner turmoil writhes passionately beneath her mask-like face. This would be an excellent piece for an audition and I mentally file it for future reference.
Hilary Norris directs a selection of scenes from Macbeth from the moment Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy of the witches to the murder of Duncan and the onset of madness. Highlighted by an intense and eerie soundscape (James Dunlop), this piece has chilling power and Lady Macbeth uses all the emotional weapons in her arsenal (from seduction to ridicule) to persuade.
The actors wrestle both physically and verbally through Taming of the Shrew. Bach is a commanding and confident Petruchio with just a hint of cruelty while Dodge is truly tempestuous as Kate. The constant ebb and flow movement resembles the erosion of waves upon a shore and, when the couple grapples on the floor, I can’t help but think of the beach scene in From Here to Eternity.
According to the programme notes, Lyndee-Jane Rutherford has never directed Shakespeare before. Judging from this excerpt from Richard III which befits her slightly melodramatic style, this is definitely a direction she should explore. Bach’s mellow tones suit the tyrant king perfectly and Dodge is credibly distraught as the grieving Anne. The intensity of hatred underpinning the formal courtship leaves a lasting impression as the final of the quintuplet. As we descend the stairs back to the rain-washed streets I believe this really is a ‘brave new world that has such people in it.’
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