Julius Caesar with Harriet Walter at the RSC’s The Other Place – review

Phyllida Lloyd’s celebrated production of Julius Caesar by Donmar Warehouse was hailed as groundbreaking for its all-female cast and inventive prison setting in 2012. Nearly 15 years on, it gets a fresh airing, but with gender-swap productions now the norm, has it stood the test of time?

The RSC has revitalised a 90-minute version of Lloyd’s Julius Caesar for its “First Encounters” series with residences in five UK schools; but the tour concludes for the general public at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Many of the original cast have returned including Olivier Award-winning actor Harriet Walter, reprising her role as Brutus. Even more a household name now after TV roles in Succession and Killing Eve, Walter is the big draw, but there’s more to this clever production than the headline names.

It’s a play-within-a-play as the cast file in, led by a prison guard, in HMP tracksuits. They are female inmates putting on their production of Julius Caesar and every so often, we are reminded of that as prisoners break out of character.

This always raises a chuckle. From infighting, with Walter yelling at another prisoner for distracting her and “not taking it seriously”, to rallying against the authoritarianism of the guards, in an unsubtle comparison to the Julius Caesar plot.

Smart staging by set designer Bunny Christie adds intensity with the performance taking place on the floor of the intimate theatre, surrounded by the audience. Everyone is close enough to feel the rage during mass brawls or the thumping heavy metal bass of a DJ wheeled on for battle scenes.

None more so than during Caesar’s assassination, when the brutish leader is stabbed repeatedly with knives while sitting amid the audience in the front row. It has the shock factor for both seeming so realistic and breaking that fourth wall.

The violence throughout is raw and brutal, akin to that behind bars, and the reason it has an age guidance of 11 and above. It eases in with Jackie Clune’s gloriously nasty Caesar shoving a doughnut down Cassius’ throat and builds up to Mark Antony’s unforgiving shootings of rebels. Even using bright blue toy guns, the sound effects and movement make it hard-hitting.

Clune is a striking presence as Caesar, emanating power in every thuggish movement and even as a ghost singing a sinister version of Elvis Presley’s “Always On My Mind” to Brutus.

Yet, it’s ultimately Walter who commands the audience. She’s a force of nature on stage, giving Brutus layers of complexity and emotion not seen in the other characters along with a slight East European twang. But then, she knows the role well.

Walter isn’t the only one returning from the original production among a fine cast. Impressive Jenny Jules is back as a passionate Cassius, Jennifer Joseph as Trebonius/Lepidus, Carolina Valdés as Casca/Cinna and Leah Harvey plays a stirring orator as Marc Antony, making the latest production feel like a well-oiled machine.

Among the newcomers, Sian Stephens haunts the stage beautifully as a chilling teenage mum Soothsayer, cycling around eerily on a squeaking child’s tricycle like something out of The Shining.

At 90 minutes with no interval, the action runs at a ferocious pace, slowing down slightly for high tension scenes. Original movement director Ann Yee and current one Valdés, along with fight director Kate Waters, deserve praise for maintaining the spirited momentum.

There’s much to excite and gel with younger audiences. Splendid choreography for the public speeches after Caesar’s death sees Marc Antony suddenly appear and be consumed within a circle of a changeable savage crowd. While using drill and rock music to rattle through the many battle scenes is equally inspired. Even televising Antony’s victory for live news with Brutus’ body hoisted up behind him chimes a chord with younger audiences.

This co-production with KPPL Productions may not be as revolutionary as it once was, but it still feels contemporary and packs a punch as a riveting, inventive and relevant piece of theatre, even down to the final rally call from the prisoners.

There’s an authenticity and energy to this excellent piece that overflows with raw intensity, but most of all, there’s a chance to see Walter back in her seminal role as Brutus.