Trevor Nunn (1972)
Nunn's production of Julius Caesar for the RSC was characterised by formal processions, and all the trimming of pomp and occasion. Crowds of people covered the stage reflecting Caesar's power and influence. Nunn produced the play as part of a Roman season. Here he talks about why he chose to direct a season of Roman plays at the RSC.
"One day I thought, "Why did Shakespeare go back four times to the notion of the Roman state?" There's this very peculiar early play, Titus Andronicus which is about the decline of Rome. And there's Julius Caesar, whether a dictatorship is going to exist, or whether democratic freedoms are going to persist. And then there's Antony and Cleopatra, which is the Rome of a little bit later on, which has become empire building and attempting world domination, and one of the leaders decides that he wants to opt out. And there's the very late play, Coriolanus, which is about the very beginnings of Roman society. It's about the emergence of a political state, as opposed to a set of tribal war chieftains.
I thought, "Maybe I should do all of Shakespeare's Roman plays in the same season. And just to tickle the appetite of the audience, I'll do them in historical order, rather than in the order that Shakespeare wrote them. So I'll begin with Coriolanus, and then develop on to Julius Caesar, and then do Antony and Cleopatra, and then do Titus Andronicus. You know, the rise and then the decline and fall of Rome.
Once I'd embarked on this idea, pretty early on, I had more arguments against it than for it, in my head. I've sort of sold the season on the idea that there are connections between these plays, but I don't really think there are."
David Thacker (1993)
The RSC's touring production of Julius Caesar was a promenade performance set in Eastern Europe after the velvet revolutions of the late 1980s. The play was directed by David Thacker and designed by Fran Thompson.
Why did they choose to set the play in Europe Post 1989? The following notes are taken from a conversation with designer Fran Thompson.
"1989 was a time of huge change in eastern European society. As a revolutionary play Julius Caesar sits happily in revolutionary times. We felt that the political schism in the Eastern block which is so fresh in our minds would give the production dynamism and relevance ... We were not wanting to create direct or specific parallels but rather to draw on the power of contemporary political change in order to demonstrate the seriousness and relevance of the issues addressed in the play."
The action of the pay began outside the theatre with actors breaking into dance and music and drawing the audience into the auditorium as part of the Roman celebrations. Inside the set consisted of a large circle of red carpet and the audience mingled with the performers in a promenade performance.
"To call this production promenade is only short hand to say there are no seats: this is not the conventional audience-stage relationship. A promenade performance usually means moving from area to area in a huge space so that the audience is literally taken on a journey. This production is in reality more environmental - the audience is in and of that environment not only close to but also participating in the action: the human walls in which our drama is played."
"The environment I created for touring (was) more expansive, more like the original Senate than the forum in the center surrounded by tiered seating. This is more of a political arena in which we hoped to convey the theatrical glamour of a presidential state occasion. It suggested a circus or bullring or a football stadium as in Chile, an area of death as well as entertainment. The red circle is to describe the gladiatorial arena where violent events were played out to entertain an audience. My choice of primary colours was to recreate the stridency of political polarity: blue is Imperial, red is Republican. Although the set itself is formal and has few props and little furniture to designate location the promenading audience forms a vital part of the design as it creates different groupings and spatial relationships with the actors."
"The potency of modern dress cannot be under-estimated for an audience which might find Shakespeare's verse alienating. Images of suited politicians and uniformed generals in contrast to a poorly dressed crowd have the immediacy and apparent veracity of a news story on television. The struggle for democracy encapsulated in Julius Caesar is sadly still going on."
A full list of RSC productions of Julius Caesar (including those omitted in the above list), with full details of cast and production team, can be found in the RSC Performance Database on the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust website.