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As the surrounding constraints and limitations for public gatherings continue in many areas of the world, the Stratford Festival remains in flux for its summer program. Usually at this time tickets would be available for purchase of the Shakespeare hub’s impending season, but as the state of affairs and the limits on even outdoor capacity’s remains firm, it’s unsure what the theatre will be doing. In the meantime, they have streamed the final free taste of their STRATFEST@HOME offerings. With a flourish of regal strength, Stratford’s Antony and Cleopatra is a powerful button on these weeks of streams.

Directed by Gary Griffin with the filming helmed by Barry Avrich, there is a keen divide between the two worlds we encounter in the classic political tragedy, and it is depicted masterfully in both the direction of the two different factions (Egypt and Rome) as well as in how Antony, the man caught in the middle of these nations, is presented. The free nature of Cleopatra’s circle, with an intensity 0f emotion on either end of the spectrum and a relaxed, indulgent air stand in juxtaposition to the straight-laced, stiff upper lip that Caesar and his cabinet display, calculated and displaying all the airs of political bureaucracy. Even looking at Mark Antony as he sits alongside the ruler, sat in his traditional robes but with hair wildly askew next to the harshly combed down Caesar, is a strong image of the dynamics at play.

Yanna McIntosh captivates and holds attention as Cleopatra from her first scene—a depiction of a magnetic ruler with volatile, shifting emotions, but in all things maintains her own honour and the honour of those she cares for. McIntosh breathes believable life into the iconic Egyptian ruler, a playfulness and cleverness that equals her scorn. Ben Carlson’s Caesar, on the other hand, is a marble statue. Formal and precise, a master of composure, we rarely see Carlson show his hand—and it makes his rare moments of fury all the more effective. Truly, McIntosh and Carlson each embody something special as these figures; they hold the very nature of The Empress and The Emperor.

But it is through Geraint Wyn Davies that we are best able to see these differences in energy between these two realms. Holding tightly to an ever-slipping sense of self and honour, Davies embodies both the stoicism of Rome and the evocative emotion of Egypt that the production builds up. Caught in between that which he pledged his life to and the freedom that his love for Cleopatra offers him, Davies wrestles with his station subtly throughout, showing him at odds with almost all around him, and this turmoil beginning to erupt towards the end. It is only when Antony has seemed to have lost everything that we see a moment of true, sober peace within him, and it is a beautifully sustained note in the sonata Davies conjures.

Stratford’s Antony and Cleopatra does great justice to not only the Shakespearean classic but to the historical figures themselves. It is with great difficulty that true life is breathed into statuesque icons and their humanity remembered. Through the lens honed for this production, the emotion, fragility, hope, and folly of these political titans sit at the forefront in a stirring light. And with luck, the Stratford Festival will be able to craft even more gems such as this for their summer season.

Sometimes art can surprise us in the strangest of places. Whether it be through a museum rediscovering a piece tucked away for decades unseen in their collection, or when a collector passes away and leaves a trove of unsorted pieces, it can make for an exciting find for the person happening upon it as well as the world at large as it’s revealed. And who would’ve thought that at a donation centre just north of Toronto, a woman would happen upon a David Bowie painting for just $5?

Discovered by a woman at a Goodwill in South River, Ontario, the painting itself was what drew the anonymous purchaser in at first. Upon further examination, she discovered it signed and dated by the legendary art-rocker from 1997—the same year as the artist’s industrial influenced album Earthling was released.

Labelled DHead XLVI, this places this work amongst Bowie’s Dead Heads series, a collection of portraits across the mid-90s with non-sequential Roman numerals attached to them. Depicting a phantasmal visage in sharp profile, the swirled acrylics of rusty and cool tones around the ghostly, featureless face are par-for-the-course of the singer’s visual style and evoke the palette of his Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane years. While his visual arts practice is lesser known to the public, Bowie was an avid painter his entire life, taking much inspiration from abstract portraiture and German expressionism, and his work can be seen in liner notes and on covers of certain albums—such as the 1995 concept album Outside, which shares not only the style but the naming convention of the Dead Head series.

“The Dhead – Outside” by David Bowie.

DHead XLVI is going up for auction through Toronto auction house Cowley Abbott. The piece is expected to fetch between $9,000 and $12,000, which certainly isn’t a bad return on a $5 thrift find. The auction will run from June 15th to 24th, and after lockdown measures had gallery doors shuttered for many months, the piece is in fact available to view in person upon appointment.

The death of David Bowie in 2016 was a loss mourned the world over (quite especially by this writer), with him bidding adieu to all via his final studio album Blackstar. He left behind a massive body of work that dove deeply into his own mind as well as conjured a reflection of the world he saw around him. A keen observer and depicter of the people and places that he met along his worldly travels, there is always his distinct and inspiring fingerprint upon any and all of the works he was involved in. And while DHead XLVI may be a subtle and simple piece of the fractal that made up his character, the discovery of a David Bowie painting tucked away inside a Goodwill still feels like the discovery of a little bit of stardust.