I can confirm that you actually did Macbeth for O-level -- you may remember winning Best Actor as Macbeth wearing nothing but a very short tunic.
I feel like the Essex-era message is not as specific as you have here. The point I get, in common with (say) Richard III and Hamlet, is Shakespeare's conservatism (in the Burkean sense): once things start to fall apart no-one knows where it's going to end. In the hands of the right actor, Octavian's few scenes (particularly where he crosses with Antony over tactics) can be dynamite; but no-one's pointing to him at the start of the play and saying "we must dispose of Caesar before Octavian is old enough to be a threat".
The BBC version of this is disappointing, but I saw a pretty good production in the Abbey a couple of years ago. Peter Hanly (Edward II in Braveheart) did a great job turning Casca into comic relief -- a real reminder of how Shakespeare wrote for actors, not just to be read.
I have a weird feeling that you did Macbeth in third year and for O-level. Did you maybe do Julius Caesar the year we were in Holland? Because I know you won Best Actor every year you went in for it (1st, 3rd, 4th) and I'm pretty certain you played the Scot a lot. (1st year you were Mercutio, right?)
Do you think Essex, who whatever else he was wasn't fat, is meant to map onto Cassius?
My memory is: 1st year (1979) I did indeed win Best Actor as Mercutio in R&J. 2nd year we were away but the play on the syllabus was Julius Caesar, which I read through when the rest of my class was doing English lessons. 3rd year was Macbeth, and I did indeed win Best Actor again, with Angela as my consort (and Eileen was the slain Duncan). 4th year and 5th year were Julius Caesar again, for O-level; I was Cassius, but am not convinced that I won Best Actor that year. (I think Conor was Brutus; I remember Casca being played by Julie who now deals in antiques in Cligherhead.)
As for Essex, no, I think the parallel is Brutus, as the guy who tried to seize power for what he saw as the right reasons but was basically wrong. I admit this is partly through having just read Loades on the Cecils, who portray Essex as goofy rather than thin and sinister. (Write-up coming Real Soon Now.)
I imagine it's like film trailers nowadays that plug whichever star is going to be in the film over other people even if they're not the main character.
I saw the production William mentions too. I picked up from it not that Brutus is indecisive but that he is too noble and honourable for the times he lives in. This, ultimately, is why the Republic is doomed to fail - the Romans no longer have the qualities needed to sustain it. I think maybe you are reading too much into this one with respect to all the Essex stuff, but the play is implicitly about the desirability and necessity of monarchy, with republican rule seen as being something that will inevitably give way to chaos or dictatorship.
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I feel like the Essex-era message is not as specific as you have here. The point I get, in common with (say) Richard III and Hamlet, is Shakespeare's conservatism (in the Burkean sense): once things start to fall apart no-one knows where it's going to end. In the hands of the right actor, Octavian's few scenes (particularly where he crosses with Antony over tactics) can be dynamite; but no-one's pointing to him at the start of the play and saying "we must dispose of Caesar before Octavian is old enough to be a threat".
The BBC version of this is disappointing, but I saw a pretty good production in the Abbey a couple of years ago. Peter Hanly (Edward II in Braveheart) did a great job turning Casca into comic relief -- a real reminder of how Shakespeare wrote for actors, not just to be read.
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I agree I may be over-Essexing this one. I stand by it for Herny V though.
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Do you think Essex, who whatever else he was wasn't fat, is meant to map onto Cassius?
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1st year (1979) I did indeed win Best Actor as Mercutio in R&J.
2nd year we were away but the play on the syllabus was Julius Caesar, which I read through when the rest of my class was doing English lessons.
3rd year was Macbeth, and I did indeed win Best Actor again, with Angela as my consort (and Eileen was the slain Duncan).
4th year and 5th year were Julius Caesar again, for O-level; I was Cassius, but am not convinced that I won Best Actor that year. (I think Conor was Brutus; I remember Casca being played by Julie who now deals in antiques in Cligherhead.)
As for Essex, no, I think the parallel is Brutus, as the guy who tried to seize power for what he saw as the right reasons but was basically wrong. I admit this is partly through having just read Loades on the Cecils, who portray Essex as goofy rather than thin and sinister. (Write-up coming Real Soon Now.)
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