Presented by the Melbourne University Shakespeare Company
Guild Theatre, Union House
Julius Caesar is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. It’s got guts, it’s got gloom and it’s got loads of great lines; I love muttering along with the actors when Cassius says ‘the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings’ or when Caesar says ‘The ides of March are come’ and the Soothsayer replies with a cackle ‘Ay, Caesar; but not gone’ or best of all, when Julius says ‘et tu Brute? Then fall, Caesar!’
The Melbourne University Shakespeare Company’s latest rendition of this juicy slice of Roman history was a good production; it was well managed, the script was cut effectively, and everything went smoothly. For me, though, Julius Caesar lacked spunk. While the show was well cast and all actors were exceptionally strong (particularly Robert Campbell as Brutus, Brianagh Curran as Cassius, Robert Frantzeskos as Mark Antony and Eric Gardiner as Julius Caesar), the delivery of lines lacked dynamism, and there was a certain lack of connection between actors on stage. Scenes were unfocussed and flat, and often actors felt the need to wander back and forth across the stage, preventing the audience from engaging thoroughly with the characters and situations. This was particularly prevalent in the first half of the play; in which brooding lighting did little to alleviate the monotony of these scenes, and instead stuck the play in dull Caravaggian gloom. Generally I liked the use of sound in this production, wind noises were used to great effect to promote a feeling of unease. However, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar has something much sexier to offer an audience than just a vague sense of unease: the portentous supernatural. I wanted to hear that lioness whelping in the streets, those graves yawning and yielding up their dead, those ghosts shrieking and that blood splattering ALL OVER the rooftops of Rome. A more dynamic use of sound would have lent this production greater vibrancy. Costumes by Claire Gawne and Emma Capponi were extremely effective, and I thought Mark Antony’s (Robert Frantzeskos) red cape and enormous breastplate and Cassius’ (Brianagh Curran) chicken wire corset looked fantastic. However it was a shame that the design elements displayed here (gaffer tape, rips and grime) didn’t carry through sufficiently to the set, which was workable but uninspiring.
Even more than most of Shakespeare’s plays, Julius Caesar lacks female roles. To his credit, director Daniel Czech has tried to rectify this by making Cassius and a few other minor characters female roles. However, I think of few of the directorial choices for Portia (Dana McMillian) and Calpurnia (Ruby Mountford) undermined this attempt. These characters are admittedly weak in the script, but I think Czech exaggerated this weakness by directing Gardiner (Caesar) to kiss Mountford (Calpurnia) on the forehead. I think if the choice had been made to have that kiss on the lips, this would have improved the connection between Caesar and Calpurnia, which, as it was, encapsulated for me the lack of connection in the production as a whole.
In addition, I found the frequent use of British accents alienating and distracting. This was probably not a conscious decision, but all the same chorus scenes were a relief, where actors like Leigh McLennon (Ligarius), Michael Fee (Decius) and other chorus members used their real voices, which leant truth to their performances.
Julius Caesar is a great play, and MUSC’s was an adequate production; I just want some more juice in my Shakespeare.
Review by Eleanor Bally
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Posted Tuesday 7 September, 2010. Updated Wednesday 15 September, 2010.