Image by Robert Day
If Shakespeare was to meet a combination of Glastonbury, Milan Fashion Week, and the Sunset Strip, this would be it. Matthew Dunster embraces the whole spectrum of pop culture to create a radical, highly visual and engaging interpretation of The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
The play opens with boys about town Valentine and Proteus with their guitars belting out a generic ‘I need to get out of this town’ song, perhaps an anthem for all young men of sleepy Italian provincial cities. This marked the first of the many injections of rock n’ roll throughout, during which guitars become an important ‘wooing’ device. Uninspired by a Verona of inoffensive pastel colours, Valentine heads for the bright lights of the big city. Starry-eyed, he is seduced by the glamour of Milan and particularly the Duke of Milan’s daughter, Silvia. Dunster exploits Milan’s reputation as the fashion capital of the world, through several highly choreographed routines of fashion shoots and seedy nightclubs.
I found the collision of these different aesthetics confusing and felt it detracted slightly from the language of Shakespeare. However, the dynamic young actors captured the essence of youthful spirit that Shakespeare intended. The position of the most comic character was fulfilled by Clemmie Sveaas as a female version of the mad-cap Launce. Unashamedly modelled on a particular Hilton heiress, she is hilariously melodramatic.
Although a highly audacious interpretation, the vibrancy of the ensemble enabled the play to rise to Shakespeare’s golden formula of tangled webs of love, friendship and disguise.