Exploring Shakespeare

Cassius and Brutus

Mr Stewart [Cassius] presents a warm impulsive figure who explodes at a very low boiling point... He [Cassius] does present a smouldering contrast to John Wood's cold-blooded Brutus.

Act and Scene
Credit: Irving Wardle, The Times
Date: 1972
Copyright: © SBT

Mark Antony

[Mark Antony] affects a bleeding heart humility that would be the envy of Tony Blair.

Act and Scene
Credit: Patrick Marmion, Evening Standard
Date: 2001
Copyright: © RSC 2001

Cassius

[Portia's] suicide transfigures [Brutus], who burns the letter as he consumes the news and colours with his thoughts the great speech after it...

Act and Scene
Credit: Michael Coveney, Financial Times
Date: 1987
Copyright: © SBT

Cassius and Brutus

Burly bullet-headed Emrys James lacks the lean and hungry look of Cassius…The beard and immaculate white worn by Peter McEnery as Brutus make him a Christ-like figure among the clean-shaven Romans.

Act and Scene
Credit: John Barber, Daily Telegraph
Date: 1983
Copyright: © SBT