This year, John Cabot University’s Performing Arts Program will be organizing a production of Antony and Cleopatra: A Memory in Ruins, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. First performed in 1607, Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy following the love affair between Mark Antony, the Roman military leader, and Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt.
The reimagined play was written and will be directed by James D. Blundell. Blundell is a British actor and theater director based in Rome. Degree-seeking student and Performing Arts intern, Nadine Anaclet, will serve as AD/Stage Manager. The show’s cast consists of 12 students along with five crew members, featuring a mix of degree-seeking students and visiting students.
According to Director James D. Blundell, “Antony & Cleopatra: A Memory in Ruins is staged as a fractured memory-play, where Octavius Caesar’s recollections — unreliable and haunted — dictate the order of events.” Blundell says the effect of the play is both classical and disturbingly contemporary. “Audiences see Shakespeare’s text unravel, repeat, or collapse in ways that mirror how memory works. It’s less about historical pageantry and more about immediacy, intimacy, and rupture.”
Blundell felt Antony and Cleopatra, specifically, was a necessary story because it held a resonance to the present day. The story itself is a tale as old as time, but it focuses on themes of political power struggles, the obsession with reputation, and the price of ambition.
Shakespeare‘s plays are still relevant today because they are rooted in the same “deep human contradictions” that were felt centuries ago. However, Blundell claims there seems to be a bit of an over-reliance on Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s work is so universal and relatable that it occupies a “default cultural position.” Blundell explains, “What we risk losing is diversity of voice — if Shakespeare is the only voice we hear. The goal, I think, is to keep him alive while making space for other voices, too.”
This marks the third year since the reactivation of John Cabot University’s Performing Arts Program. An annual play is presented in the Fall, and a musical in the Spring. Antony & Cleopatra: A Memory in Ruins will be performed in Aula Magna Regina on November 24 and 25. For more information, please contact [email protected].
