In David Berthold’s production of Julius Caesar, Shakespeare’s tragedy becomes a play for our times. A play about dictators and their overthrow, about democracy and corrupt politicians, this production can also be interpreted as a play about the nameless, faceless powerbrokers who topple political leaders and bend governments to their will.
This is an exciting interpretation of a classic play, edited and reinvented to paint a different picture to the usual telling. I loved Berthold’s choice to play with dreams and nightmares in the second act, leaving the audience questioning what was real and what dreamt. This worked so much better than the battle, suicide, battle, suicide, forgiveness of the original. The ending, or final waking, was shocking in its brutality and will remain etched on my retinas for a long time.
Thanks to Nigel Poulton’s grisly fight choreography, the blood shed on stage is harrowingly believable. The deaths are brutal and ugly and much more shocking than you’d normally expect from theatre.
Thomas Larkin and Steven RookeLa Boite’s marketing has used many comparisons between Julius Caesar and last year’s Hamlet and, at times, I felt they were pushing a bit hard to make this new play fit the mould of last year’s production.
Steve Toulmin was the music and sound designer for both shows and also acted in both. One of my favourite moments in this recent production was the gentle ballad he sings to try to lull Brutus to sleep. It was a beautiful moment of theatre. But Toulmin’s success as a rock god in Hamlet, seems to have called for a reprisal of the role in Julius Caesar… The show opens with him belting out a number while the other actors cavort at what appears to be a university toga party. It’s a high energy beginning, it’s loud and it’s young, but when the actors start speaking the text there’s this moment of dissonance, because how the hell does Julius Caesar fit with what we’ve just seen?
The answer is not particularly well. The opening scene felt like it was tacked on before the start of the play to show that this would appeal to everyone who loved Hamlet. It also gave the audience the chance to see several gorgeous young men without their tops on, spraying water all over their chests and rocking out. Which is great if it helps the story, but this didn’t.
Steve ToulminIt took a while for the play to find its rhythm after this rocky start and I think the first act needs a bit more time to settle into itself. I imagine that with a week’s playing it will grow much stronger.
The cast of eight handle the text well and make the language clear and easily understood. Hugh Parker’s Caesar is a much gentler and humbler leader than expected, making his assassination all the more heinous. Thomas Larkin’s Antony is all testosterone and bare-chested glory until the moment of his famous speech, which is beautifully persuasive and sincere.
The star of Shakespeare’s play is Brutus and Steven Rooke was mesmerising as the honourable man who is persuaded to kill his mentor and friend, believing it to be for the good of the many. His lesson, as we still seem to be learning now, is that when you topple a despot you may not like what takes his/her place.
I loved the fact that this was a play without goodies and baddies, where all the actors played their characters as people with strengths and weaknesses. Paul Bishop’s Cassius may not have been as ‘lean and hungry’ as he’s often portrayed, but for all his manipulation and deviousness, Bishop made Cassius someone with whom we could empathise.
Ross Balbuziente, Anna McGahan and Thomas LarkinEmily Tomlins and Anna McGahan had a harder time as they were cast to play several smaller characters and it was often difficult to distinguish between the roles and remember how each fitted into the whole. Ross Balbuziente’s boundless energy and enthusiasm survived an embarrassing rap number that didn’t warrant its punch line “how vilely doth this cynic rhyme!”. It felt to me like another attempt to connect with younger audiences. I wonder if they will be more forgiving of it than I was.
This is the first show that uses La Boite in its theatre-in-the-round configuration since David Berthold took over the tenure of the company, and it is the best use of the space I’ve seen. Greg Clarke’s design is deceptively simple and clean, allowing for uninterrupted sight lines and Jason Glenwright’s lighting is dark and moody, befitting the dream states invoked throughout the production. I loved Berthold’s decision to stage the asides on the stairs in the audience banks. Greg Clarke created little booths for these, like those you find in libraries, and the actors clicked on the lights when they sat at them. The effect this gave was to highlight the nature of the deliberate asides and to spotlight them, while also making it conceivable that the other characters on stage would be oblivious to what was being said.
Julius Caesar will no doubt be very popular with the school audiences it’s targeting, but it should also appeal to a much wider audience. It’s accessible and, apart from the places where it tries a bit too hard to be young and edgy, it’s genuinely engaging.
Julius Caesar plays at the Roundhouse Theatre until 20 March, 2011.
Photos by Al Caeiro.
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