ED2012 2/5 Reviews ED2012 Theatre Reviews

Shakespeare’s Queens – She-Wolves And Serpents (Straylight Australia)

By Patricia-Ann Young | Published on Sunday 12 August 2012

Shakespeare is stuck between a rock and a hard place in this odd show focusing on the many queens who featured throughout his plays. Basically just excerpts of scenes and speeches made by monarchs in the Bard’s works, it is strung together, rather strangely, by an imagined chat between Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and Shakespeare himself, centuries after their deaths. All three actors seem to be having fun playing a wide variety of parts, but deliberately hammy performances do no justice to the famous playwright’s words, which in turn lets the whole show down. In a time (and a festival) where Shakespeare has been done to death, sheer enthusiasm is not enough to pay homage to the Bard.

C eca, 5-25 Aug, 2pm
tw rating 2/5 | [Patricia-Ann Young]