Synopsis Victorious and valiant, yet proud and tyrannical, Julius Caesar is murdered by his closest allies. But the assassination divides Rome and bitter war begins. The Complete Works
The clash, colour and vim with which this Julius Caesar bursts into life is in stark contrast to the enervating drabness of David Farr’s 2004 production at the Swan. ‘Mechanicals’ in vivid hued, middle eastern-style dress, sound serpentines, pound drums and adorn a mannequin of Caesar.
But the revels are quickly ended and what follows, on a stage heavily under lit with figures emerging from and receding into blackness at the rear of the performance space, is in stark contrast. Small orbs, suspended from lengths of chain, are the only props. Often, members of the cast not engaged in current stage business look on, indistinct and mute witnesses, from the back.
It’s swift-footed, clearly staged production which eschews any extravagant directorial concepts or wilful updating. This is a Rome of togas and swords, not blackshirts, swastikas and guns.
Unfortunately, what follows only intermittently lives up to the impact of the opening and Sean Holmes’ production is marred by some poor contributions from key members of the cast. Chief culprit here is John Light as Brutus who is wild and whirling from the first, even before Finbar Lynch’s Cassius gets to work on him. The problem with starting at number 11, as it were, is that it gives Brutus nowhere to go but even more over the top, as happens in the subsequent scene in which he and his Portia, played by Mariah Gale, clash with exaggerated and unseemly passion over his secret business. “I see passion is catching”, Light at one point observes with unintended irony.
Elsewhere, others struggle with delivering their lines clearly. Lynch as Cassius is well cast, devious and with more than ‘something of the night’ about him; but he is prone to muffling his lines and his character never really fully swims into focus. Ariyon Bakare as Mark Antony, unfortunately handicapped by crutches because of a foot injury, is clearly-spoken but is also often over-excited.
It is left to Golda Rosheuvel as Calpurnia, passionate in a measured way and beautifully spoken, to show how Shakespeare should be communicated. James Hayes too is a decent Caesar, less self-assured than his posturing would suggest, his braggadocio constantly teetering on the verge of self-doubt.
Sorry stuff indeed. Aimless direction, poor design and a cast who for the most part sleepwalk their way through the show (although Mark Antony's funeral oration was superb). The dullest JC I've ever seen! - 84.64.217.11)
02 Oct 06
The performance I saw was extremely lame. Julius Caesar is a great play, but there was no insight, no passion and no flair. Dull, dull, dull. The second half particularly gave the impression that the actors couldn't care less and couldn't wait to get off the stage. The actors assigned to play Brutus and Mark Antony were weak - although Antony's funeral speech was OK. I am aware that the battle scenes are difficult to pull off but in this production they were both confusing and boring. The whole just did not gel ... I've seen better amateur productions - 195.93.21.10)
15 Aug 06
The problem with reviewing Shakespeare is that most reviewers will have seen the play before and end up doing a comparative review, based on their pre-existing knowledge. Understandable - but unfair on the playwright and the players.
For me this productions works splendidly. The ebb and flow of characters on and off the stage, the stark set (or lack thereof) and the wonderful lighting keeps the interest where it should be - on the action and the actors.
The play depends on the interplay between Brutus and Cassius and, certainly by the time I saw it, there was a real relationship deveoping in front of us. John Lights Brutus grows into the conspirator urged by the insidious Cassius. By the end of the play we watched the self destruction of the conspirators and we cared.
All in all an extremely good play, well played. The trick with Shakespeare is to enjoy the play, not get engrossed in how good the verse is, and to dispel the images and memories of past produstions. Easy to write, hard to do - but if is going to be worth any company continuing to present Shakespeare live -vital - 80.195.201.227)
01 Aug 06
Liked the production a lot..some of the acting less so. - 88.108.58.198)
01 Jun 06
For me, this is a rather drab three star production. It's fine as it goes, but nothing particularly memorable and it lacks the drama of David Farr's recent RSC offering of the same play. The opening promises much, but the energy of the opening scene is not repeated. I would love to have had the job of "set design" - there isn't one! Lynch's Casius boarders on good but the other leads are just adequate. I've always felt Brutus to be a particularly difficult role to carry off and John Light doesn't manage to fare any better than most - in fact he's rather non-descript in the role so the play lacks the backbone it needs. It's a play that seems to be going through the motions - there's little in the way of imagination or insight - and that's a shame. - 62.255.32.15)
01 Jun 06
The message inherent in Julius Caesar – that the overthrowing of an existing regime always has the potential to result in "civil strife" – has of course retained its relevance ever since the events in the play took place and recent RSC productions have tended to highlight this by setting the play in a time other than its own. In this latest version, however, we are firmly in the Rome of togas and swords, although the opening sequence, in which the Roman citizens, dressed in brightly coloured Eastern robes, danced wildly in celebration of Caesar's latest triumphs, might have made you wonder whether this was to be the case. Chided roundly for their behaviour by Flavius and Marullus, the citizens then moved away into the darkness which filled the back of the stage, to re-emerge as the senators and other characters, including Julius Caesar himself.
The back of the stage remained in darkness throughout the production and contrasted vividly with the forestage, which was flooded with white light (and bereft, incidentally, of a formal set). Both the assassination and the subsequent suicides took place in the full glare of this light and, given that the amounts of blood used were lavish, it must be emphasised that this production is not for the overly squeamish!
As intimated above, the costumes were Roman in design, but one or two notable colour choices were made. For the assassination, the conspirators were clad all in white, which made the preponderance of blood even more apparent. And while, in the battle scenes, the two sides are often distinguishable by the differing colours of their costumes, here everyone wore red, but the ingenious use of blue cloaks meant that it was possible for soldiers to change from one side to the other without even leaving the stage and speeded up the action.
Finbar Lynch's fine Claudius was clearly the dominant member of this conspiracy. Whenever he gave way to Brutus's suggestions he did so with obvious (and, in hindsight, understandable) reluctance and was clearly only doing so because of his regard for his friend. Chris Jarman (standing in for the injured Ariyon Bakare on the night I saw the show) was a powerful Mark Antony, utterly convincing in his grief over Caesar's death yet cynically triumphant when his oratory had won over the citizens in the market-place. The seeds of his future discord with Octavius Caesar were, however, present from the moment of their first encounter on stage, when Nick Court's Octavius, displaying a stronger personality than is sometimes the case, firmly refused to be dictated to by the older and more experienced man.
Though arguably giving few new insights into the play, this production had great clarity, and the decision by the director, Sean Holmes, not to highlight the story's relevance to any other period meant that its focus remained firmly on the always intriguing interplay between its principal characters and the seemingly ever-shifting balance of power that exists between them.
- 194.75.128.200)
25 May 06
Production was okay.
How come there was an interval when I went on 18/5/06???
- 62.254.0.54)
22 May 06
After the disastrous Romeo and Juliet I went to Julius Caesar thinking that lightning could not strike twice. How wrong I was. The production was indisputably the worst I have seen at Stratford in 46 years. Cassius, Brutus and Mark Antony were all completely inadequate. Every cliche in the book was played out interminably. Again no idea of how to speak the verse. The only thing in favour of the production was that it was played without an interval so people got home 25 minutes earlier.
- 88.107.23.3)
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