The NSW Leaving Certificate English in 1962 had Julius Caesar for its set Shakespeare and I wasn’t keen on it at all.
However, there’s been some water under a bridge or two since then and Chaika Theatre’ production under director Caitlin Baker went a long way toward reminding me of its virtues.
It’s a lean modern dress production on a traverse stage with a cast who are very flexible in terms of picking up a variety of roles.
Lachlan Ruffy catches the spirit of a Brutus who carefully and logically reasons his way to the assassination of Caesar. Yanina Clifton is a tense and angry Cassius. There is a clear friendship between them but there’s also a tragic clarity about their blind reasoning on the way to the assassination.
They are up against a wily Mark Anthony in Colin Giles, sharp and quarrelsome but knowing exactly how to turn the mob in his great speech over Caesar’s body. Brutus’ reasoned approach is no match for Anthony’s appeal to the crowd’s feelings.
Amy Kowalczuk doubles up effectively as Calpurnia, the wife of Caesar and Portia the wife of Brutus. That’s a strong choice as both women are urging their husbands to think, Calphurnia to have Caesar use some caution about going to the Capitol and Portia to have her husband Brutus trust her with his intentions.
Joshua James successfully differentiates a cold Octavian and a bespectacled young Lucius, servant to Brutus. And Karen Vickery haunts various scenes as the sinister and envious Casca.
Michael Sparks makes a rather magnificent Trumpian Caesar, overwhelming in life and deeply disturbing as the ghost that haunts Brutus.
This is a play full of little scenes and momentary incidents and the cast combines to bring to life moments like the terrifying one where Cinna the poet (Ian Russell) is fatally mistaken by the mob for Cinna the conspirator (Peter Styles).
Cuts happen. Lepidus, the third member of the Second Triumvirate, seems to go missing which disturbs the scene where he is quickly dismissed so the two real power brokers, Octavian and Anthony, can decide who will live and who will die and who will get what. But the compact speed of this version is what carries its sense and we’ve seen a few versions that allow the whole story to bog down.
It is good to see a production that does not allow this but focuses on the energy of the play rather than the rhetoric and too much slow reverence for the text.
