Shakespeare’s plays were never meant to be the preserve of the academic elite or the bane of high-school students everywhere. His theatre was, in many ways, the pub theatre of its time and Pop-Up Globe, emulating the London Globe, succinctly reminds us of this core truth. Shakespeare was writing for the masses – he gave them comedy and violence, romance and action, tragedy and music and song-and-dance. The bread and circus of life.
Based on extensive research of the second Globe, the Company present four plays in repertory. It does not matter which one you see really, because this is about the experience. And if one has been fortunate enough to attend a Globe performance (something … anything!) you understand that it is, indeed, an experience rather than a performance as such. From groundlings to those in royal boxes, this is immersive, interactive, breaking the fourth wall, realistic, non-realistic, minimalist, elaborate theatre which draws everyone in. You name it, Shakespeare did it and by taking us back to those Elizabethan / Jacobean experiences we understand what a Shakespearean play was meant to be and look like. Off the pedestal and mucking around down here with the rest of us.
Saturday night was the opening of A Comedy of Errors. One of Shakespeare’s “twin” plays (hey, the groundlings loved it so let’s do it again and again and … again), it is a farce which relies on the mistaken identity of two set of identical twins. It is slapstick (literally – the Antipholus(es) each carry one around to beat up their respective Dromio servants). Each set of twins believes the other to be dead. We, the audience, know they have to meet up in the end but it is Shakespeare’s manipulation of characters and events, the near misses and pratfalls which makes this a classic farce – silly, fast, chaotic and just a touch gloriously insane.
Pop-Up Globe is divided into 2 companies, each doing two plays. It is the Southhampton’s company which presents The Comedy of Errors and then by contrast, Macbeth. Again, very much in the practice of the original Globe. Director Miles Gregory has chosen a provocative opening, one which brings the play sharply into contemporary focus. Not much has changed in middle-Eastern politics in the last 400 years, it seems. And the opening is very black comedy indeed; underscoring the adage that comedy is just tragedy with timing. These dark undertones re-appear periodically, reminding us of the possible tragedy waiting just around the next corner. Or the next scene.
The cast engage joyously with the play and the audience responds in the same way. There are various levels of success in performance but overall, it does not seem to matter. Nigel Langley delights as the Duke of Ephesus and Balthazar; Matu Ngaropo is complete as Angelo, beautifully nuanced and always funny and stealing every scene he is in. Both Dromios, Ryan Bennett and Blake Kubena, mirror each other so well, it is hard to believe they are not actually twins. Serena Cotton does a nice line as Luciana and Amanda Billing, as Emilia is distinctive, if a little difficult to understand at times. Clarity of diction is all in all here and for some cast, focused on the physical humour and characterisation, diction became a poor third.
But this is an ensemble effort and thank the heavens above (nicely copied sun in the sky here) the company have not resorted to microphones. Good old fashioned projection helps maintain the sense of participating in a theatrical experience hundreds of years old. No orange sellers but touts with wine and food. And portable ATMs so you can picnic on.
For some, the London Globe is likely to remain an unrealised experience. Miles Gregory and Tobias Grant have had the gumption, dedication and vision to bring Antipholus to the antipodes (and a plethora of other characters) – and about time too!
Kate Stratford – On The Town
