Mojo, The Bard, & Me

       Let the Egyptians

And the Phonecians go a-ducking: we

Have used to conquer, standing on the earth,

And fighting foot to foot.

-Soldier

Antony and Cleopatra                   Act III, scene vii                   Line 63

Well at least we’ve gotten away from the history plays for the day. Although this one’s not too far removed from history, just a different time and place’s history. But I believe it’s classified as a tragedy. Either way, what we have here is another uncredited cast member, this time Soldier, giving Marc Antony the very solid advice to fight on land and not sea. I’m pretty sure that when he says ‘go a-ducking’ he means act like ducks and go out on the water (in boats). I like that: Go a-ducking. Regardless, does Antony listen? Of course not. Does it turn out well for him? Of course not. You know, it’s the little guy, the uncredited guys in life who really do know what the heck they’re talking about a lot of the time. I feel like that little uncredited guy a lot. 

So I googled Marc Antony (the Roman guy, not the play, and not the singer) and of course all I got was results for Marc Antony the singer. I had to use ‘Marc Antony Roman’ to get the guy I was looking for. I was just looking to see how well Will had stuck to history on this one. And he did a pretty good job. Oh I doubt that the uncredited soldier advised Antony to fight on land. But we do know that Antony got his butt kicked in the sea battle. What a maroon!

This is an interesting play, and Will pretty much paints the picture of a fairly manipulative, kind of spoiled brat, woman and a guy who is really obsessed with her and being led by her, and by his own stupidity, to make a lot of bad decisions. I’m not sure exactly what Will was trying to say with this play. Be careful who you fall in love with? That warning could apply to Antony or Cleopatra.

Well anyway, let’s walk away from this one with the thought that you really should give a little bit of a listen to the uncredited guys and gals. Just because they’re not the stars of the show doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about.

I asked my friend to do his interpretation of the Antony’s forces at the naval battle that ensued. He takes his roles pretty seriously, don’t you think?