Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare

Crypt Arts Centre, Dublin
September 5 - 23, 2000

juliuscaesar

Cliffscomplete: Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar: Granville Barker's Prefaces to Shakespeare

Marlon Brando:
Julius Caesar(1953) VHS
John Gielgud:
Julius Caesar(1970) VHS

    Inspired by Romanian director Duca Darie's 1995 staging of the classic Shakespearean drama as the contemporary story of a then newly-democratic state, director Joe Devlin has successfully grafted some of the pressing concerns and dominant iconography of contemporary Ireland onto the Rattlebag Theatre Company's production of Julius Caesar. When Caesar dies he is surrounded by men in grey business suits whispering their conspiracies into mobile phones. He is forewarned by a Romanian gypsy selling "The Big Issues" on a street corner. When civil war erupts in the final act, the belligerents are indistinguishable from one another dressed in black boots and combat trousers, armed with hurley sticks and dustbin lids. Staged in the claustrophobic surroundings of Dublin's Crypt Arts Centre, one of Shakespeare's most consistently re-interpreted plays is invigorated not by excess, extravagance, or invention, but by Devlin's ability to explore its complexities by emphasizing its ambiguities. "In this new production there are no heroes or villains, only people living in extraordinary circumstances making difficult choices," he tells us.
    "Modernizations" of Shakespeare are far from a new thing, and very often seem to serve no particular purpose, but even the suggestion here that this story speaks to a Celtic Tiger era Ireland strikes a chord of recognition which transcends the peculiarities of costume and setting. Julius Caesar was never really about Romans. It was a Renaissance-era England's vision of the Roman State filtered through the political sensibilities of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The play has endured for more than four hundred years as a depiction of civil unrest in which well-meaning murderers and cunning demagogues face one another over the heads of the fickle mob. It is a scenario which lends itself to polar attitudes on the questions of imperialism/fascism that it raises. Readings of Caesar himself vary from the swaggering dictator who meets a just end to a sympathetic figure engulfed by forces greater than himself.
    In Devlin's hands, Caesar (confidently portrayed by Ciaran Reilly) is a slightly imperious but otherwise recognizably typical modern Irish businessman, an avid supporter of hurling apparently (hurling, a traditional Gaelic sport whose history in the late nineteenth century was inextricably bound up with nationalism, is here offered as an iconographic substitute for warfare), who falls at the hands of men all too much like himself. With its low-key lighting, dapple-grey sets, and strategic use of props and costumes, Devlin's vision of the troubles of the turbulent Roman State is all-too easily identifiable in its modern context without being a literal transposition. As it was for Shakespeare, Julius Caesar is a drama which asks its audience to consider the lessons of history in the context of the present.
    This is a gripping production which will entertain and stimulate its audience. It makes excellent use of the space at the Crypt to increase the feeling of enclosure, confusion, and paranoia which envelops its characters. There's a particularly striking storm scene in Act I and there are memorable moments which emphasize the complex and contradictory words and actions of the characters. Its sense of the muddied waters of nationalism demonstrates a more even-handed grasp of the subject than many contemporary political dramas. It is also, as ever, a riveting yarn in the best tradition of Shakespeare which is well mounted and well told.
    The cast are generally good, with Aiden Condron a suitably intense Marc Antony and many of the performers fulfilling multiple roles (Gavin McCaffrey is of particular note in the role of Caska). In the key roles of Brutus and Cassius, Kristian Marken and John Anthony Murphy respectively are often somewhat constrained by their parts. Murphy is appropriately quick to anger as Cassius, but the actor leaves himself with almost nowhere to go after a few scenes, having shown his fury so early. Similarly Marken is weighted down with Brutus' inner turmoil, which, though appropriate, makes him a less than dynamic presence. Nonetheless all of the performers work within the directorial rubric set by Devlin, and if these limitations are to be noted, it must also be said that they fit the overall scheme of the production.