The Moment Before I am Powerful, Trafalgar Studios (TrafExtras) ****

When getting into the theatre seemed too much for trafalgar studios, with the incompetent staff packing people into the bar and not opening the house until 5:58 for a 6 pm start, I was in a bad mood. However, at 6:15 until 6:40, the finest Shakespeare speeches were performed by some of the best actors in the West End. The performance started with a speech from Hamlet performed by Lauren O' Neil, then followed by Deborah Findlay reprising her performance as Volumnia, giving her soliloquy from Coriolanus, a role she last played at the Donmar during Christmas. These two impressed me the least. I only managed to understand part of what they were saying and could not put together the first part of the narrative. From then on, however, it was all on top form. Papa  Essiedu and Cynthia Erivo (next performing at the Donmar in an all female production of Henry IV) performed their last speeches as the titular roles in Antony and Cleopatra. They were both moving and moved the narrative forward considerably. However, James McAvoy stole the show performing Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral from Julius Caesar. This cleverly followed on from Erivo's soliloquy. It was brilliantly moving and engaging and had the whole audience captivated. It just showed why McAvoy is one of the great British actors.