STAGE REVIEW: Antony and Cleopatra - at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until September 7, 2017.

IT’S often said that hell has no fury like a woman scorned and here we have not one, but two who may be well justified in feeling they have been considerably betrayed by their ‘betrothed’.

Little wonder there’s some frantic action which follows!

You know that Antony’s game is up and his time is ever near as another of Shakespeare’s couples, enthralled with power and plotting, head inexorably towards tragedy.

As with Romeo and Juliet, the Macbeths, and also Desdemona and Othello - and there are others - you know its not going to end at all well.

Add Octavia into the blend, Octavius Caesar’s sister, to complete the eternal triangle already occupied by Antony and Cleopatra and there’s surely trouble ahead. Especially as she is Antony's new bride of convenience.

Now into its Rome season the Royal Shakespeare Company has set us en route to revisit one of the world’s greatest empires via two of the bard’s fairly weighty tragedies - one to Egypt where the shifting sands of politics are the cause of calamity for its Queen, Cleopatra, while the other, Julius Caesar, centres on the struggle to control the Roman power-base.

Iqbal Khan’s production of one of the world’s greatest love stories provides totally captivating but contrasting performances from our lovers.

Josette Simon flies and flits in various directions, much like silky hair in the wind, with her moods switching from subjugation to wildly wonderful angry outbursts so you could be excused for thinking maybe she’d had her fingers in the pill box.

Simon has scored in previous roles at the RST in several productions but this has to be one of her best. She throws around a variety of voices, is moody and menacing, and quite a decadent seductress.

She’s restless, she cannot sit still, but her crazy Cleo is the perfect foil for Antony Byrne’s more subdued Mark Antony, as he provides a laid back, older military man-of-the-world who has been there and done it!

They’re the ideal foil for each other in a world that steers both towards fantasy, but while he may long to be at his queen’s side he does - it appears - also find life just as, if not a shade more comfortable, with the men back in their military quarters.

He’s a one more battle man - as much for glory as lust.

Both leads are utterly convincing and this helps draw out several other consummate performances such as Patrick Drury’s Leopidus and David Burnett’s rebellious Pompey.

Other fine contributions were Anthony Ofoegbu’s Diomedes, Andrew Woodall’s soldierly Enobarbus and James Corrigan’s hold on Agrippa, one of Caeser’s followers.

Khan’s directing has also ensured a much appreciated conventional approach - plenty of togas, and leather chest armour and with very little in the way of a regular set it ensures there’s more importance attached to Shakespeare’s words which are, of course, worthy of great consideration.

Yes, there is a lot of dialogue and to some it may lose a little impetus, even dragging on a little at a touch under three hours, but in the hands of Simon and Byrne it’s gripping.

It’s quite a slick production too of human stories and all their traits - the need for love, along with ambition, mistrust, and eventually regret.

Our two lovers are the strong base on which this tale unerringly unfolds

**The running time for this show is 2hrs 55mins. There is also a 20 minute interval.