A&E
Photo courtesy of T. Charles Brickson
From classic to modern: The Acting Company’s rendition of Julius Caesar
By Tayzia Santiago ’19
April 6, 2017
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This past weekend, April 1 and 2, The Acting Company visited Hamilton College to showcase two plays they prepared in conjunction: X, or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation by Marcus Gardley and Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. The Acting Company, founded in 1972 by John Houseman and Margot Harley, is the only permanent, professional touring company dedicated to the development of classical actors.
Julius Caesar, the classic play by arguably the greatest playwright in history, William Shakespeare, was performed on Sunday.
The hour and a half-long production was shortened from the original version, with some scenes cut and some lines moved around. Because the cast was relatively small, most actors played several different roles.
The play opened with an ominous scene of a woman singing and a soothsayer donning long dreadlocks, a limp and a brown piece of material he had wrapped around his shoulders and head. The woman sang haunting tones to ease into the scene, then the soothsayer hissed about prophecies of what was to come.
This underscored the mystical aspects of the play right out of the gate, a motif carried through the play with events such as Calpurnia’s premonition and the appearance of Julius Caesar’s ghost.
Additionally, the company included a statue of Caesar toward the back of the stage that was present in nearly every scene, at least until the actor who played Caesar replaced the statue as the ghost.
This staging decision created a physical embodiment of Caesar’s presence within the play as a whole. Although he speaks only 135 of the 2459 lines, Julius Caesar is the driving force of the entire play. His assassination plummets the plot into an entire war.
This rendition of Julius Caesar was dominated by strong acting and bold directing choices. All actors were clearly experienced, and their confidence and commitment to the roles definitely carried the play.
They also made specific character choices. For instance, the actor who played Caius Cassius created a much stronger character than portrayed in the written play, almost undermining the actor who played Marcus Brutus. On paper, Brutus comes across as the protagonist and the tragic character because his strongest motivation resides in the welfare of the Roman people.
In this play, however, Cassius comes across more as the wise protagonist who has to deal with the stupidity and naivety of Brutus.
The boldest directing choices came in the second half of the play, after Caesar’s assassination. In the beginning, actors dressed in Roman clothing from the time period; however, when the war begins, actors are in modern military gear.
This transition springs when the final moment of assassination finishes with a gunshot. Although this bold choice made for an interesting transition, the fact that the transition was relatively abrupt and the suicides were still performed with swords felt awkward.
In any case, overall, this production was a high-quality, compelling rendition of a classic.