Few directors describe their vision as muscular, but that is exactly how Sonya Suares approaches Melbourne Shakespeare Company’s Cleopatra & Antony. She is tackling one of the Bard’s most ambitious works; a play that refuses to sit neatly within any single genre, blending tragedy, history, romance and action-adventure into something genuinely wild.
Meet The Director – Sonya Suares
What is this production about?
What is it not about? Empire, politics, love, war, legacy, factions, strategy, betrayal … and getting across the chess board of life on your own terms/ with what you hold dear intact.
What drew you to this particular work, and why now?
This play is one of the Bard’s most genre-bending works. It’s simultaneously a tragedy and a history and a romance and an action-adventure epic. It’s absolutely wild staging this work at this particular geopolitical moment, given its conceit: a contest of empire and ambition that famously reaches its climax with a naval-impasse-turned-all-out-showdown in a narrow body of water – one not so far away from the Strait of Hormuz.
How would you describe your directorial vision for this production?
Muscular. For all our fascination with the titular characters, this is an ensemble work. And we have a rockstar ensemble – this cast are already deep into the world-building that has to happen for audiences to invest in the fates of Cleopatra and Antony.
What is your process for working with actors to find the truth in a scene?
With heightened text, I tend to sketch on the floor first so we can all feel free to work in draft, and feel into the rhythm and dynamic of the world we’re building together. That way, actors are able to make offers that resonate both within framework of the play and that tap into their own experience as humans. Actors are very good at mining for truth if you get the parameters right.
Is there a moment in the show that has surprised you in how it has come together?
We’re just getting started but already the physical score of this work is gripping. It electrifies and energises the actors in the room – I think it’s going to be the same for audiences.
How do you balance your vision with the creative contributions of your cast and team?
Theatre is a collaborative endeavour and I love an offer. I mean, not every single offer is gold but if you get the right folk in the room, I believe you benefit from the many eyes, ears and minds attuned to making your vision for the production as taught and multi-faceted as possible.
What do you hope audiences are thinking about on the drive home?
That these seemingly distant moments in history are closer to us than we think. That we repeat and relive them over and again. Of what it means when a whole way of life is at stake, or a civilisation is destroyed. Of whose voices are heard and whose are lost.
On a nerdy note, I hope audiences are stirred to know more about Cleopatra and Antony. Their fate unfolds within the context of the world’s first all-out propaganda war and a real sliding doors moment in history. I mean, the very name we use for the month our show opens – August – is an honorific tied directly to the events in this play. It’s uncanny – and endlessly fascinating.
Our thanks to Sonya Suares for sharing her perspective on this fascinating production. For anyone curious about the propaganda wars, sliding doors moments and historical echoes she describes, tickets for Cleopatra & Antony at fortyfivedownstairs are available now.
