Julius
Caesar by William Shakespeare. Directed by Peter
Evans. Bell Shakespeare. the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre.
April 10-18.
Under tall smudged red panels that recall the wall paintings of
Pompeii Bell Shakespeare’s latest Julius Caesar is an absorbing version. There’s an olive tree (symbol of peace
in a play full of conflict?) and the
odd striking shaft of light (lighting designer Amelia Lever-Davidson) across
the red walls. The costumes (designer Simone Romaniuk) are modern but have
echoes of old Roman lines and drapes.
There’s a certain amount of cross gender casting but Shakespeare
himself had single gender casts and many tall schoolgirls have found themselves
playing Caesar or Brutus. What matters is the performances and here they are
strong and clear.
A steady but self deluded Brutus from Brigid Zengeni is well
matched by the contrast of Leon Ford’s irritable and fierce Cassius. Caesar’s
elegant wife Calphurnia (Ava Madon) sees her nightmares about the dangers to
her husband swept away by his arrogant reasoning and the devious challenge to
his courage by conspirator Decius (James Lugton). Brutus’s wife Portia (Jules
Billington) pleads lovingly but cannot penetrate Brutus’s deflections about the
lethal plans that are being made.
Mark Anthony (Mark Leonard Winter) emerges as a man with the gift
of an eloquence which will sway a crowd more than Brutus’ educated logical
reasonings.
And veteran Peter Carroll lights up the stage every time he
appears, particularly early in the piece as the beautifully dry and cynical
Casca.
Caesar himself (Septimus Caton) is a quite magnificently tall
despot in a toga. When he falls he has a long way to go. It’s an impressive
image.
This killing leaves the conspirators covered in blood. It’s very
clear when Mark Anthony comes in who has taken part.
The military later part with its suicides and and defeats and the
quarrel between Brutus and Cassius has the right feeling of the inevitable.
The one true casualty in the script is that marvellous brief scene
where Cinna the poet is mistaken for Cinna the conspirator and murdered by the
Roman mob looking for vengeance after Caesar’s assassination. It is a cut that
is questionable but it seems to have a history. You won’t find it in either the
1953 film with James Mason as Brutus or the 1970 one with Charlton Heston as
Mark Anthony. But it did figure large in the classrooms of the 1950s and it is
a short and brutal snapshot of the citizens of Rome let loose after the
assassination.
However, do not let that put you off. This is an imaginative and sensitive production where the actors might wander into the audience and the scale of things can be domestic as well as political. Director Peter Evans (who also designed that moody dark red Pompeiian set) has created a human and moving look at the play that is well worth a visit to the Playhouse.
Alanna Maclean
