William Shakespeare 
Antony and Cleopatra 

Illustrated with atmospheric paintings, Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was performed first circa 1607 at the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre by the King’s Men. Its first appearance in print was in the First Folio of 1623.The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony’s fellow triumviri of the Second Triumvirate and the future first emperor of the Roman Empire.The tragedy is set in Rome and Egypt, characterized by swift, panoramic shifts in geographical locations and in registers, alternating between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and the more pragmatic, austere Rome.The plot is based on Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch’s Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony from the time of the Sicilian revolt to Cleopatra’s suicide during the Final War of the Roman Republic. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antony’s fellow triumviri of the Second Triumvirate and the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The tragedy is set in Rome and Egypt, characterised by swift, panoramic shifts in geographical locations and in registers, alternating between sensual, imaginative Alexandria and the more pragmatic, austere Rome.’A magnificent drama of love and war, this riveting tragedy presents one of Shakespeare’s greatest female characters—the seductive, cunning Egyptian queen Cleopatra.’