Hail Caesar
May 30, 2012
Having just arrived in London to start work at the Roundhouse I was drawn back to Stratford on spiritual elastic to see what promised to be, at the very least, an interesting take on a difficult play. I knew it would be my only chance to see Greg's Julius Caesar, and I was determined not to miss it.
I'm so glad I saw it. It was terrific. A landmark show. Like so many great productions, it has taken a bold and adventurous idea and, in the execution, made it look completely way to go.
I have seen productions that kind of fall apart after Mark Anthony's great speech to the mob. I'd love to hear somebody more knowledgeable than me talk about this, but I think that maybe that it is not really about the eponymous character and his assassination – after that, where is there to go? But this play is more an exploration of the relationship between two men, Cassius and Brutus. Responsibility versus Pride, perhaps.
The relationship is examined in a sort of classic three act structure, and it is the third 'act' that so often doesn't quite work.
But here we have the raw and visceral performances of Paterson Joseph and Cyril Nri to clearly chart the journey of this the doomed alliance through the treacherous waters of tryst and trust – two very different men, bound by purpose but riven by personality.
I had forgotten quite how many brilliant lines there are in the play. I will be making serious use of my trusty iPad Shakespeare app on the train home, checking out how neatly and perfectly our playwright captures the fragile essence of humanity.
Here's an example that sent shivers of recognition in me, as Brutus, ever the troubled realist, talked about the change in Cassius, and where we first hear about the falling out of these great brothers in arms:
When love begins to sicken and decay
It useth an enforced ceremony.
The whole production is so clearly delivered that great phrases like this strike right to the heart of our experience.
The enlistment of local people to the 'Community Chorus' is a wonderful enhancement to the production.
The crowd scenes had specially poignant resonance for me, because my first experience of Shakespeare on stage was in the National Youth Theatre's Julius Caesar where I recall that Michael Croft had us responding freely and unscripted to what was being said to us, confident that Shakespeare's text would manipulate his extras in just the right way.
I saw only the second preview in the RST and, to me, it looked fit and polished like the limbs of its actors, laid bare when they were at their most daring and then quickly covered by the improvised second-hand garments of a desperate militia.
I spoke to some of the cast afterwards who told me that they think Greg is keen to shave a bit of time off the show. Well, I guess it can only get slicker and faster and, if this was its fighting fitness in early preview, I'd kill to see it when it's run in.
Hail! All hail!
by Nick Day
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