SOURCE: Murray, David. “Shakespeare's Unique Voice Disappears into Rickman's Beard.” Financial Times (22 October 1998): 16.

In the following review, Murray censures Sean Mathias, the director of the 1998 National Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra, for his lack of respect for the play's poetry. He describes Alan Rickman's delivery of Antony's speeches as “a disaster,” but he extends kudos to Helen Mirren for her evocation of a vital, energetic, and ambiguous Cleopatra.

Many people have been saying for months that the National Theatre's new Antony and Cleopatra was bound to be worth seeing just for Helen Mirren. Sadly, that proves to be the literal truth.

Mirren is eminently worth hearing, too; and Samuel West's Octavius Caesar at least boasts faultlessly audible diction, like several actors in lesser roles. Most of them surmount the notorious acoustic hazards of the Olivier Theatre with credit.

As Antony, however, grizzled Alan Rickman's delivery is a...