Review - Julius Caesar (The Courtyard Theatre)

If there's one play which mirrors the world's political landscape over the last couple of years, it's Julius Caesar. It's testament to the genius of Shakespeare's longevous writing that the political tragedy has been popping up in theatres at breakneck speed as of late, with notable recent production including Angus Jackson's spears and sandals production at the RSC and Nicholas Hytner's current production at the Bridge Theatre, which brings the drama into a gritty 21st century setting. But Spada Productions' gutsy new take goes a step further than both of those iterations, and drops Brutus and co. into a grim post apocalyptic wasteland, where a need for survival drives the actions of the play's notorious conspirators. 

Matt Daniels and Mitch Howell as Brutus and Cassius in Julius Caesar
Photo credit - Gary Cooper (SquareFreedomPhotography.com)

Director William Vercelli's bold vision is something to marvel at. In Vercelli's baron future, a violent form of masculinity rumbles steadily on, riling up the fiendish Cassius and urging the initially rather reticent Brutus into becoming the leader of a band of assassins tasked with murdering their country's beloved leader. 

Overcome with admiration and lust, Mitch Howell's serpentine Cassius controls Matt Daniels' Brutus like a puppet on a string. Combining flattery and seduction, he manipulates the object of his desire into plotting Caesar's downfall. The duo crackle dangerously, an undercurrent of mutual bloodlust binding them together, and the scenes they share are undoubtedly the most fascinating and complex in this production. Aïsha Kent's Calpurnia is another interesting character well portrayed. Reimagined as a mystical woman, seemingly capable of channelling spirits and prophesying the future, it is she who cries out 'beware the ides of march' in the production's striking opening scene. If only her husband Caesar could match her strength of spirit. As the titular general director William Vercelli is less convincing. He portrays a Caesar who seems unsure of himself, more peevish than all-powerful. Subsequently it is difficult to see he and the forbearing Brutus as the equals the text implies they are. Nevertheless, his downfall is suitably horrific, and creates a striking image which cements Vercelli's merciless Rome as an engagingly volatile and bloody one.

The cast of Julius Caesar

Photo credit - Gary Cooper (SquareFreedomPhotography.com)

However, on several occasions the cruel atmosphere which dominates the production oversteps into something much more sinister. The usually loving and devoted relationship between Brutus and his stately wife Portia is contorted into a murky marriage marred by savage and intense sexual violence, which culminates in a distraught Portia initiating a graphic coat hanger self-abortion and dying as a result. Even the most affable audience members will almost certainly find Portia's ghastly treatment uncomfortable to watch. Additionally, another unendurable scene sees Brutus coaxing his young servant to touch himself while he watches on voyeuristically. Far from 'the noblest Roman of them all', the Brutus moulded by Vercelli's Julius Caesar is a reprehensible wretch. In a world dominated by barbarity, the exploration of sadistic carnality and destructive masculinity is certainly interesting, but at times it seems gratuitous; more eager to shock its unsuspecting audience than provide particularly enlightening commentary for them. 

That being said, this Julius Caesar is certainly fresh, and successfully reinvents the well trodden play as something much darker and more distressing than the title suggests. Is the mistreatment of certain female characters undue? Almost certainly. Are the attempts to shock and distress audiences miscalculated at times? Without a doubt. But this stifling production builds a convincing world, where civilisation is a thing of the past, and individuals demonstrate power in any way they can think of, be that sexual domination, mental manipulation, or basely inhumane savagery. And for that reason, some of the production's most hyper-violent moments seem just about justifiable as artistic choices. The impressive world building is bolstered by Jenn Sambridge's simple yet completely immersive production design, and Gregory Jordan's lighting design, which casts a sickly light on each brutal scene.

Slimlining the conspirators, who are usually portrayed as a fearful and calculating bunch, into a handful of ragtag incendiaries, completely alters the dynamic of the play, and so when Christopher G. Jones's brattish Octavius saunters in at the end of the play and positions himself as the first emperor of Rome, it comes as a breath of fresh air. Will the broken country be any less fragmented under his rule? Probably not, but at least he'll shake things up a bit.

Review - Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre)

One of Shakespeare’s most famous Roman tragedies is brought crashing into the 21st century in Nicholas Hytner's production of Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre.

Ben Whishaw as Brutus in Julius Caesar
Photo credit - Manuel Harlan

Hytner‘s production is staged in the round, with some audience members seated and some acting as the mob. Pre-show, throngs of audience members are packed into the vast auditorium where a rock band decked out in Caesar’s merch is playing covers of popular music. The crowd yells along to We’re Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister, and egged on by the swelling, baulking and jostling, it’s impossible not to be swept up in the hysteria of the rally. The mob mentality which plays such a large part in the story of Julius Caesar is almost instantaneously established, and from that moment onwards the rabble is primed to go along with anything they are asked to do. 

Designer Bunny Christie has achieved something remarkable in her production design, which raises the modern day pseudo Rome from the ground. Notably, at one point a gigantic red cloth is passed over the heads of the crowd and set down on the floor, its vivid hue juxtaposing the grim grey tones which dominate the early sets and costumes, and foreshadowing the conspirators' bloody deeds. 

As the titular tyrant David Calder is an interesting presence. Despite the obvious parallels between the text and the events of the present day, as well as his entourage of baseball cap wearing lackeys, Calder's Caesar bears very few similarities to his obvious real world equal. It’s interesting to see Caesar take centre stage though, as although Cassius describes him as a Colossus, in many productions Caesar seems like an afterthought in the play which takes his name as its title. Calder’s Caesar is perfectly pitched as the dictator on the rise. Externally, he’s jovial enough to begin with, all smiles and handshakes, but there’s a severity hiding beneath the surface too. One which Cassius urges Brutus to topple. 

Oh, and what a pair Cassius and Brutus are. Even when there’s action going on elsewhere, Michelle Fairley and Ben Whishaw’s duo of reluctantly murderous idealists are impossible to turn away from, even for a second. Ben Whishaw is a cerebral Brutus, more at home in his study than on the battlefield. Nevertheless, he has a certain charm and persuasiveness. He's a thinker, a schemer, the perfect opponent for Calder's exhibitionist Caesar. Meanwhile Michelle Fairley's steely Cassius brings grit and tenacity, which compliments Whishaw's febrile energy wonderfully.

David Calder as Caesar in Julius Caesar
Photo credit - Manuel Harlan

In fact every one of the 8 conspirators feel well defined, their reasons for agreeing to be complicit in their murderous crime are etched into their worried yet defiant faces. Set against a rather ordinary looking backdrop, surrounded by concrete grey and dull metal, the very ordinary conspirators feel extremely human. Hytner's production is less sandals and togas, more Clarks and Marks & Sparks. As fun running Mark Antony David Morrissey is also extremely watchable. He's an enjoyable yet somewhat unassuming presence during his early scenes, but comes into his own during Mark Antony's famous speech wherein he laments the death of Caesar 

As Brutus and Cassius’ plot to seize power very rapidly start to come apart at the seams, their downfall is mirrored in the deconstruction of the once spotless set. Rubble falls from the ceiling and Pro-Caesar propaganda is trampled into the ground. The final act of Hytner’s masterpiece is staged in an all-out war zone. Bodies are left where they fall, and there are a lot of them (this is a Shakespearean tragedy, after all), and impressively in the intimate final scenes where the conspirators reflect on their actions, the pressing mob which surrounds them on all sides, made up of actors, ushers and slightly shell-shocked audience members, settles silently. They’re almost as resigned as the characters are as they’re brought face to face with the destruction they were complicit to. 

As the dust settles and the actors bow and exit, the audience can finally breathe a sigh of relief and consider the ride they’ve just been on. Amid the hysteria of the crowd, Hytner’s brisk two hour cut of Julius Caesar feels monumental. Almost immediately one starts to wonder if he might consider following up his triumphant Julius Caesar with Antony and Cleopatra. It’d certainly be a treat to see David Morrissey take on the legendary General a few more years down the line. 

If there’s anyone out there who still rejects the idea of taking Shakespeare’s plays out of their original historical context then they must get a ticket to this frankly epic production.