'ANTONY': GOING TO WAR WITH THE ACTORS YOU HAVE.

Byline: - Evan Henerson

ANYONE not content with what's actually written into Shakespeare's play might take to the running commentary the adapters of ``Antony and Cleopatra'' give their production in Thousand Oaks.

``What a war!'' is the underlying theme of the show, the kickoff of the Thousand Oaks International Theatre Festival. ``What strange times we inhabit! Let's hash it out.''

Modern-day clothes, some textual shaping and a kind of pointless ongoing chat between a Charlie Rose-like interviewer and the character of Euphronius are about the only nods to any present-day immediacy that directors/adapters Niall Padden and Daniel Hainey are able to supply. Euphronius (played by John Ross Clark), one of the few characters left standing, is given to statements like, ``He could have ruled the known world,'' or, ``Caesar's propaganda machine was well-oiled.''

Otherwise, love it or hate it, this is Shakespeare's tale of love within war and a star-crossed pair who really had no business in combat or statesmanship. The theater festival has some very strong actors and others who look like they're barely past their student days. Padden, who plays Marc Antony, is considerably older than his Cleopatra (Imelda Corcoran), which may explain his character's general weariness with anything that isn't Cleo. Less apparent is what the beguiling queen of Egypt wants with him.

But want him, she clearly does. Corcoran's Cleopatra appears to be having her guts systematically ripped out of her stomach from the inside with every moment she has to spend away from Antony. The reaction when Cleopatra learns from an unfortunate messenger (Steven Walker) of Antony's political marriage to Octavia (Jane Longenecker) is about as violently executed as I've seen it.

The festival's attempt to give the production some modern-day relevance is commendable if not so splendidly accomplished. The smaller Scherr Forum of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is a great space for classics and experimentation. Pity the most creative use the company could make of a projection screen is a simultaneous on-camera feed of the Euphronius/Interviewer dialogue.

Which begs the question: Why on earth are we spending so much time listening to a character who has so little to say?

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA - Two and one half stars

Where: Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday; through Sept. 16.

Tickets: $29 to $69. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: Imelda Corcoran's love-drenched Cleopatra is one of the production's few highlights.