Shakespeare with a Bollywood overlay makes this Antony and Cleopatra unique. Director Rebecca Patterson slips in Indian music, costumes, and above all, dance, but Shakespeare's text is thankfully untouched. As always, The Queen's Company puts a multi-ethnic, all-women cast to the task, and the result is both professional and believable. A lot of thought and practice must have gone into preparing principal male characters such as Mark Antony (DeeAnn Weir) or Pompey (Aysan Celik). Even more impressive is the clear diction on the part of everyone in the cast, all sounding particularly fine in the superb acoustics of Connelly Theater. To get there, however, delivery is so drawn out that, at times, the sense of verse is lost. As compensation, there's hardly a gap between scenes -- quite an accomplishment considering the multiple-role casting. Sets are minimal to facilitate locale change, a sheer curtain at the back bathed in differing colors of light and a piece or two of furniture. But all that is quite in line with staging in the Bard's era. A bright yellow floor nicely sets off the players, particularly the male character's black uniforms.
Those in the cast who stray beyond the relatively straightforward style that Patterson establishes become a detraction. Valentina McKenzie lets what is probably her natural way of gesticulating while speaking infiltrate her acting, but also Ami Shukla gives a rather wiry delivery at odds with the naturalistic style of the others. Aysan Celik breathes Pompey's self-assurance; Zainab Jah is radiant as Octavia. As the excellent leads, Maureen Porter's commanding presence as Cleopatra is a good match for DeeAnn Weir's convincing Mark Antony. The main complaint is that there isn't more Bollywood. A brief dance number at the beginning and a slo-mo fight scene leaves this viewer (as passionate a fan of Indian films as the director) wanting more.
