Review: JULIUS CAESAR, RSC
Photo credit: Marc Brenner
So, what do you do when you have a leader that you think has gained too much power? You set a plan to murder him, obviously!
Julius Caesar is known as one of Shakespeare’s great tragedies. On Caesar’s return to Rome, after a triumphant win in the war against Pompey, the Roman people are ready to shower him with praise and honours, but for the senate his return causes concern and dismay. Caius Cassius plots a coup to murder Caesar and enlist the support of Brutus. Brutus succumbs to the plan, but refuses to agree to also murder Mark Antony, Caesar’s close friend. At Caesar’s funeral, Brutus addresses the people and explains why the senate murdered Caesar and appears to be winning them over, until Mark Antony addresses them too and turns them against the conspirators. Mark Antony and Caesar’s Nephew Octavius take command of Rome and lead an army against them.
Director Atri Banerjee uses Shakespeare’s political thriller to portray the aspects of ecological and existential disaster that run through our lives today, as much, if not more than they would have done in Caesar’s or Shakespeare’s time’s. We’re all still questioning the meaning and the purpose of life.
As our Doomsday clock is set at 90 seconds to midnight, Cassius and Brutus have a clock set to the Ides of March and this is cleverly symbolised by a countdown as Caesar is stabbed to death by the senate.
The play opens with the movement (movement direction by Jennifer Jackson) of the entire cast in front of supporting images (animation by Adam Sinclair), which immediately makes us uneasy but unable to look away, drawn in to the dark depths of the play’s themes.
Annabel Baldwin portrays the conspirator Cassius. They are confident and strong in their betrayal of their leader and assured in their persuasion to get Brutus (played by Thalissa Teixeira) on side. Both characters have a clear journey, Cassius from their strength to the weakness of their guilt and Brutus from her guilt to the strength of her new found power, and both are a delight to watch.
Mark Antony, played by William Robinson, is the calm between the storm of their betrayal. He has a good balance between the distress of losing his friend Caesar and his new loyalty to Octavius and their commitment to putting things right.
This is a well-rounded production. It even has some ironic humour to break up the tragedy, and does justice in bringing a relatable take on Shakespeare’s writing to a modern-day audience.
Unsettling, straight forward and compelling.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin
Julius Caesar plays at the RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon until tonight (8 April) and tours across the UK from 20 April until 24 June. For more information, please click here.