Cleopatra is the ruling Queen of the Nile and Eastern Empire. She is perceived by Rome as a political threat, especially after capturing the heart and soul of their great general, Mark Antony. A power struggle is inevitable: will the ambitious, upcoming Roman Octavius Caesar manage to persuade Antony to leave ‘his Egyptian dish?’. A civil war in Rome presents Octavius with the perfect opportunity to lure Antony away: a marriage match with his sister, Octavia, in order to consolidate the Triumvirate.
Antony agrees, but his trusted friend and fellow general-in-arms,
Enobarbus, knows full well that Antony is incapable of staying loyal to
this arrangement. Cleopatra, meanwhile, has heard of the news of the
marriage between Antony and Octavia and the poor, hapless messenger
bears the brunt of her jealous fury.
As Enobarbus predicts, Antony
abandons his Rome obligations and returns to Cleopatra. Octavius now
declares war on them and the question now is whether Antony still has
what it takes to overcome the might of Octavius’s forces.
