Assistant Director/ Stage Manager- Joey Burford
Julius Caesar has a reputation for being both a noble and a brutal play, and Essential Theatre’s production delivers both these qualities with grace and power.
The six strong cast take to their small stage with command to tell the tale of the most famous of Rome’s Caesars. Amidst political warfare, Brutus and Cassius are the main schemers behind the overthrow and murder of Julius Caesar and in so doing incite the wrath of Caesar’s right hand, Marc Antony. One of Shakespeare’s ripest plays for long and impressive speeches, Essential Theatre delivers the gravity and depth behind the words superbly, and electrify their modest space. The cast is all female and changes the pronouns to recognise that, which makes for an exciting adaptation, and at only an hour’s running time it is fast paced too.
The design is beautiful and reminiscent of classical roman costume. A clever detail linking the military to bloodshed and politics to betrayal is the addition of flowers on the epaulettes of their uniforms coinciding with the red, carnation-like flowers used to show blood.
For a small scale production this is very impressive. Appropriately condensed, it does exactly what is needed to set the scene squarely in a time of political and personal strife, and to present the play at its best. Shakespeare would be proud.
14th-26th August, 11.25 fist week, 19.40 second week