Julius Caesar // Review
The contemporary setting ignites the action, making the violence thrilling and frightening, grabbing the audience by the throat...
The Theatre Royal Norwich is the latest venue to play host to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar. This is lucky for Norwich theatre goers, because the production is a vigorous and energetic firecracker.
Julius Caesar is a play stuffed full of political machinations, conspiracy, ominous portents and bloody struggles for power, all of which can seem one step removed from our British culture of political apathy and ‘politician fatigue.’ Even during the era when Gordon Brown would have happily unseated Tony Blair as PM the most dramatic it got was a lot of mumbling and grumbling. Whereas in Julius Caesar when statesmen Cassius and Brutus fear that Caesar has become too powerful they solve the problem by stabbing him to death.
So how to make the action of this play seem relevant and engaging? Director Gregory Doran’s solution is to transport the play to modern day Africa, a raw political landscape that resonates with any audience familiar with news stories of civil war, social upheaval and the figures of dictators such as Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe. The contemporary setting ignites the action, making the violence thrilling and frightening, grabbing the audience by the throat with the idea that this onstage tussle for power reflects the reality that some people face day to day. The setting also fits aptly with the superstitious elements of the play, so the soothsayer that warns Caesar to ‘beware the Ides of March’ becomes a ghostly shaman figure dressed in traditional garb speaking in an ominous rasp.
The production is bolstered by a host of great performances and high production values. Michael Vale has created an atmospheric set of sun-bleached stone steps with a huge statue of Caesar looming at the back of stage. Jeffery Kissoon gives a very human portrayal of Caesar that highlights the morally ambiguity of his assassination. Paterson Joseph’s performance is finely nuanced as the conflicted Brutus, running the gamut of emotions as his idealism leads him to a murderous act and its spiralling consequences. He is equally matched by Cyril Nri as the embittered Cassius and Joseph Mydell’s bone dry sarcasm as Casca while Ray Fearon is powerful and charismatic from the moment he walks on stage as Mark Antony.
The strong concept and a uniformly excellent cast ensure that this is vital and powerful production. Catch it while you can!
Louisa Theobald
