Antony and Cleopatra (1959 film)


Antony and Cleopatra is a 1959 Australian television play based on the play by William Shakespeare. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.
It was broadcast live in Melbourne then recorded and screened in Sydney. The ABC also broadcast a production of Hamlet at the same time, which was broadcast live in Sydney then recorded and screened in Melbourne. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.

Cast

Arthur Chipper did the adaptation, which made a number of alterations from the play, including reducing the characters and opening it in Rome not Alexandria.
It was shot at ABC's studios in Rippon Lea. There were 15 speaking parts and six extras. The set was designed by Jon Peters. It was Keith Eden's first performance as a "straight" actor on TV - he was better known as a radio actor. There were 31 scene changes. Keith Clarke did costumes.

Reception

The critic for The Age thought the play was "not for television." Another critic for the same paper said it "was a gallant and praiseworthy attempt in the face of heavy odds" but did not think the play suitable for television although he liked the two lead performances.
The Sydney Morning Herald critic wrote that:
Not much of the pomp and poetry came through the rich texture of Shakespeare's language in the... production.. although as a straightforward account of love and war this Melbourne performance Was satisfactory enough. Two things helped to lower the temperature of the love and the language; first, Arthur Chipper's rearrangement of the first half of the play was quite skillful, but the cutting was on a political rather than on a passionate bias, and second, producer Christopher Muir'_s use of cameras and- lighting did little—except in a few scenes — to imaginatively underline the play's mood, atmosphere, and growing tensions.

The Bulletin also gave it a bad review.