PHILO             Look where they come. Take but good note, and you shall see in him The triple pillar of the world transformed Into a strumpet’s fool. Behold and see.      (1.1.10-13) Look, note, see, behold: this is spectacle, and of a complex kind, because Philo wants to disparage what’s going on (although actually he’s fascinated, he […]

PHILO                         His captain’s heart, Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper, And is become the bellows and the fan To cool a gipsy’s lust. Flourish. Enter Antony, Cleopatra, her ladies [Charmian and Iras], the train, with eunuchs fanning her.   (1.1.6-10SD) Philo continues his dismayed? […]

Enter Demetrius and Philo PHILO Nay, but this dotage of our General’s O’erflows the measure. Those his goodly eyes, That o’er the files and musters of the war Have glowed like plated Mars, now bend, now turn The office and devotion of their view Upon a tawny front.              (1.1.1-6)   Starting like this – with […]

My new #SlowShakespeare reading of Antony and Cleopatra will begin on Monday 24 October. Daily posts go up around 9am UK time, with a more-or-less simultaneous tweet; a daily production image is (usually) added on Twitter later in the day. Comments on the blog and on Twitter are very welcome! I’m really looking forward to […]