Reader Reviews
Julius Caesar (Roundhouse, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | With a story containing an assassination, political intrigue, civil war and countless deaths, it's a bit of a surprise to have to concede that Julius Caeasar is frankly rather dull. Lucy Bailey does her best to create more excitement although the blood and gore is substantially reduced from her Titus Andronicus at the Globe. William Dudley makes exceptional use of video screens to conjure up Rome's seething proletariat or massed ranks of legionnaires. Greg Hicks wasn't sufficiently autocratic as Caesar to justify his fate but Sam Troughton was excellent as a doubt-ridden Brutus, even if his frequent soliloquies did much to add to the longuers. Daniel D'Silva was an impressively physical Mark Anthony and his impassioned eulogy to Caesar was the undoubted highlight. There was also a nice cameo from Hannah Young as the tragic Portia (Mrs. Brutus), one of only two female characters, which might be part of the problem with this play. Even Shakespeare is entitled to the odd play which does not live up to his genius, or maybe the RSC has been outshone by HBO and their vibrant, if inaccurate, portrayal of ancient Rome. - David Baxter | 28 Jan 11 |
| A cut above other productions - the entire cast is excellent and the production so exciting the A level students at the back stopped eating their noodles. Darrell D Silva and Greg Hicks stand out. Only issue is that Brutus is a dead ringer for Ed Balls. - Emma Salter | 20 Jan 11 |
| Marginally better than the 2006(?) RSC production before the builders came in - this is a flashy (all the video gimmicks work well) but really rather poor effort. Sure, it's a difficult play, but if Brutus is not believable as a noble senior Roman (Sam T really isn't up to it in the gravitas department), Caesar isn't believable as a great leader of men (Hicks isn't) and Mark Anthony is played more like Falstaff (looking forward to seeing Darrell d'Silva in that role, not this) - the whole thing really doesn't work. Style over substance - this was something of a let-down. - JC | 13 Jan 11 |
