Confucius, he say
... if you're a massive racist, check that the production of Julius Caesar you're going to watch isn't an all-black production which might involve people not talking like 1940s BBC announcers. The four people sat next to us sat there at the end and didn't applaud, having spent the whole production saying "I don't know what he's saying" to each other. They'd almost certainly have left at the interval, except there wasn't one.
JC is a play I have enormous problems with, in that I can't recall ever seeing it put on well. It suffers textually in that great gobbits of the play involve someone coming on and saying "Something really cool has just happened off-stage."
This production was billed at a spritely 2h15 (no interval). We saw the first night (last night), and it was probably more a 2h25 (no interval). To do that, they're taking quite a run at it and do manage to sustain quite a pace.
I'm reminded of watching Richard III recently, in which a couple of 'crowd' scenes were done with about 6 or 8 actors arranged around the auditorium (The Swan, in that case - JC was at the main theatre) and call out a few things. You can see what they're trying to do - the whole "the audience is the crowd" sortafing - but it doesn't really work. JC instead filled the stage with people, so it actually felt like a clamouring crowd and not a somewhat fake and hearty attempt at one.
For my money, Joseph Mydell as Casca really steals the scenes he's in. The "I know something and I'm going to carefully drip-feed it to you" scene at the start is very coolly done, very subtle, very engaging. Think a non-cheesy Columbo "Just one more thing", done in the most laid-back, relaxed style.
It maintains pace and energy throughout, and never descends into character just reciting the plot to each other. Even where that happens (the script forces that a little), the performances are generally excellent.
I wasn't a huge fan of Jeffery Kissoon as Caesar, but there's nothing wrong with what he does. I think it's just not the direction I'd've taken it.
IMDB thinks there's a TV movie being made with the same leading cast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2363237/ Worth looking out for.
JC is a play I have enormous problems with, in that I can't recall ever seeing it put on well. It suffers textually in that great gobbits of the play involve someone coming on and saying "Something really cool has just happened off-stage."
This production was billed at a spritely 2h15 (no interval). We saw the first night (last night), and it was probably more a 2h25 (no interval). To do that, they're taking quite a run at it and do manage to sustain quite a pace.
I'm reminded of watching Richard III recently, in which a couple of 'crowd' scenes were done with about 6 or 8 actors arranged around the auditorium (The Swan, in that case - JC was at the main theatre) and call out a few things. You can see what they're trying to do - the whole "the audience is the crowd" sortafing - but it doesn't really work. JC instead filled the stage with people, so it actually felt like a clamouring crowd and not a somewhat fake and hearty attempt at one.
For my money, Joseph Mydell as Casca really steals the scenes he's in. The "I know something and I'm going to carefully drip-feed it to you" scene at the start is very coolly done, very subtle, very engaging. Think a non-cheesy Columbo "Just one more thing", done in the most laid-back, relaxed style.
It maintains pace and energy throughout, and never descends into character just reciting the plot to each other. Even where that happens (the script forces that a little), the performances are generally excellent.
I wasn't a huge fan of Jeffery Kissoon as Caesar, but there's nothing wrong with what he does. I think it's just not the direction I'd've taken it.
IMDB thinks there's a TV movie being made with the same leading cast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2363237/ Worth looking out for.