Julius Caesar
Last weekend, I saw Julius Caesar performed by the Bell Shakespeare Company at the Opera House. It's nearly my favourite Shakespeare play, after King Lear, and I've been hanging out for ages for the chance to see it on stage.
Anyway, this was a fascinating production for a couple of reasons:
(1) It's a modern adaptation, with everyone in suits instead of togas, bringing the story from Ancient Rome to contemporary politics. All the ads show a bespectacled man in a suit next to a woman throwing her head back laughing, which has resonances with certain recent events in Australian politics.
(2) Cassius, leader of the conspirators, is recast as a woman. (Thus explaining the ads.) In the program book, the actress says that she had always thought of Julius Caesar as "that play about war and men and togas and speeches", but when she was asked not only to play Cassius but to help adapt the text for this production, she was tantalised and terrified all at once. Anyway, she was awesome and it worked really well. If everyone's running around in togas, then a woman in the senate might strike an odd note, but if everyone's in suits, then why the hell not?
(3) It's a touring production, which means a cut-down version of the cast, and a cut-down version of the play. The forty roles are combined into ten players, and the big battles in the later acts are compressed and summarised. But all the drama and emotion and conflict are still there. And the speeches. It really is a lot about the speeches.
Despite the impression from the ads, Caesar was actually played more like an aging mafia don, in mannerism and accent, and Cassius was a lethal petite blonde in a suit, with lots of fire and intensity. Brutus was pretty good too, and there was this interesting tension between him and Cassius, which I don't know if it was entirely because Cassius was a woman.
Now, I'm a Mark Antony girl, even though I know Brutus is supposed to be the hero of the story. (I have a thing for loyalty, so I'm all for the guy who avenges his fallen friend, even if he sets Rome to burning, as opposed to the guy who stabs his friend in the back, even if he did it for honour.) So I was pleased to see Mark Antony played well. His broad (almost strine) accent took a while to get used to, but it did fit his persona of "a plain blunt man". And he nailed the "dogs of war" speech. Brutus did manage to blow me away with his "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" speech to the crowd. A shame for him that Mark Antony also blew the crowd away with his "they are all, all honourable men" speech.
Interesting parallels: Caesar tells Antony that he doesn't trust Cassius, and Antony tells him he has nothing to worry about. Cassius tells Brutus that she doesn't trust Antony, and Brutus overrules her concerns. People! When someone tells you that someone else will be trouble, you will probably regret not listening to them.
Interesting contrasts: Octavius was also played by a woman, but the character remained a man, unlike Cassius, who was actually genderswapped.
Interesting casting: Cinna the poet was played by the same actor who played Cinna the conspirator. So when he delivers that line to the rioters ("I am Cinna the poet, I am not Cinna the conspirator!"), there's a moment of whoa, surreal.
Interesting quotes: Cassius, Act 3, Scene 1: "How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown?" Oh, Will, you sure love your meta, don't you?
Anyway, this was a fascinating production for a couple of reasons:
(1) It's a modern adaptation, with everyone in suits instead of togas, bringing the story from Ancient Rome to contemporary politics. All the ads show a bespectacled man in a suit next to a woman throwing her head back laughing, which has resonances with certain recent events in Australian politics.
(2) Cassius, leader of the conspirators, is recast as a woman. (Thus explaining the ads.) In the program book, the actress says that she had always thought of Julius Caesar as "that play about war and men and togas and speeches", but when she was asked not only to play Cassius but to help adapt the text for this production, she was tantalised and terrified all at once. Anyway, she was awesome and it worked really well. If everyone's running around in togas, then a woman in the senate might strike an odd note, but if everyone's in suits, then why the hell not?
(3) It's a touring production, which means a cut-down version of the cast, and a cut-down version of the play. The forty roles are combined into ten players, and the big battles in the later acts are compressed and summarised. But all the drama and emotion and conflict are still there. And the speeches. It really is a lot about the speeches.
Despite the impression from the ads, Caesar was actually played more like an aging mafia don, in mannerism and accent, and Cassius was a lethal petite blonde in a suit, with lots of fire and intensity. Brutus was pretty good too, and there was this interesting tension between him and Cassius, which I don't know if it was entirely because Cassius was a woman.
Now, I'm a Mark Antony girl, even though I know Brutus is supposed to be the hero of the story. (I have a thing for loyalty, so I'm all for the guy who avenges his fallen friend, even if he sets Rome to burning, as opposed to the guy who stabs his friend in the back, even if he did it for honour.) So I was pleased to see Mark Antony played well. His broad (almost strine) accent took a while to get used to, but it did fit his persona of "a plain blunt man". And he nailed the "dogs of war" speech. Brutus did manage to blow me away with his "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" speech to the crowd. A shame for him that Mark Antony also blew the crowd away with his "they are all, all honourable men" speech.
Interesting parallels: Caesar tells Antony that he doesn't trust Cassius, and Antony tells him he has nothing to worry about. Cassius tells Brutus that she doesn't trust Antony, and Brutus overrules her concerns. People! When someone tells you that someone else will be trouble, you will probably regret not listening to them.
Interesting contrasts: Octavius was also played by a woman, but the character remained a man, unlike Cassius, who was actually genderswapped.
Interesting casting: Cinna the poet was played by the same actor who played Cinna the conspirator. So when he delivers that line to the rioters ("I am Cinna the poet, I am not Cinna the conspirator!"), there's a moment of whoa, surreal.
Interesting quotes: Cassius, Act 3, Scene 1: "How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown?" Oh, Will, you sure love your meta, don't you?