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TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Send This Review to a Friend
Whenever I see a Shakespeare play in an updated setting I always wonder whether there is a useful purpose to the modernization. So it was when John Glover as Cressida’s uncle, Pandarus, was seated with a laptop computer at the outset of this Public Theater Free Shakespeare in the Park production of “Troilus and Cressida” (July 19-August 14). But in the final stage of the drama the updating usefulness became loudly apparent.
Instead of hand-to-hand combat among Trojans and Greeks, the fighters turned up with so much modern weaponry unleashing powerfully simulated, automatic gunfire that someone nearby in the park might have thought there was a terrorist attack in progress.
Does this directorial gambit by Daniel Sullivan help illuminate the Bard’s difficult play, not one of his best, but a challenging one to mount? Well, it does make for blazing action. The battles in a way overshadow the thwarted love story that is key to the plot.
Andrew Burnap makes a handsome Troilus, the Trojan who falls in love with Ismenia Mendes as Cressida. But their love is upset when Cressida is bartered to the Greeks for the release of a prisoner, and she has to find a way to survive in her unwanted situation.
Meanwhile, grudges surface and battles loom, focusing attention elsewhere. Among the stalwarts are Bill Heck as Hector, Louis Cancelmi as Achilles (he took over the role when David Harbour was injured), Alex Breaux as Ajax and Corey Stoll as Ulysses.
Glover plays Pandarus with a severe limp, which commands attention, and he also locates humor in the portrayal. The production is dynamic, but overlong (some three hours), and director Sullivan obviously has worked hard to find ways to keep our attention, especially with the gunfire onslaught that erupts with appropriate, smoky scenic effects.
Since “Troilus and Cressida” is rarely performed in comparison with Shakespeare’s more popular plays, this mounting provides a chance to freshly evaluate it. On that score alone, it is worth seeing. There is also an interesting addition—Spanish subtitles are projected on both sides of the stage. At the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, accessible by entering at 81st Street and Central Park West, or 79th Street and Fifth Avenue. Reviewed August 10, 2016.
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