Can a Shakespeare play acted by one person? Cathy Naden did it in her version of Antony and Cleopatra in Forced Entertainment’s Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare, which played in the Pit at the Barbican. What is more unusual is that her co-actors are: a luxury-decorated cup as Cleopatra, a tall glass bottle as Antony, a bottle of dish wash as Caesar and many other small ordinary cups as soldiers and maids. Indeed, it’s very different from the Shakespeare I knew. The choice of housewares also tells a lot about the character.  

Table Top Shakespeare works like no other stage setups. While the Pit recovers the look of the kitchen from your childhood time with two shelves full of bottles, containers, spices and sauces, the stage is a one metre square wooden table. The artist retells the story of one of the plays in an hour while using only selected common housewares. While the artist brings the audience into the story like grandparents did back during childhood days, the two shelves urge you to wonder: had Cleopatra been played by a tube of toothpaste rather than a cup, would she have remained the same in our impression of her? 

Without the celebrity actors, flamboyant dresses, Shakespeare’s text, complicated stage, and the soul-stirring orchestra, what else is left? While there is nothing, there is everything. Guided by Cathy’s rich voice, the plot becomes very clear, which leads to the strong emotion embedded in the fabric of the story. Cathy’s voice goes directly into the heart, and delivers the courage of love, the hatred of betrayal, and the passion for beauty without unnecessary distractions. Bringing all of these together, the seemingly simple artistic activity becomes incredibly powerful and intimate.  

In this interaction between the storyteller and the listener, they work together to bring out the story. The storyteller designs the route, and the listener frees their imagination. There is no meaning between the lines. The minimalism and simplistic style of Forced Entertainment’s storytelling brings out another facet of Shakespeare’s work: the plot. It may well be what Shakespeare would have liked to tell the world the most.