JULIUS CAESAR (Shake-scene Theatre Company)****

 

 

By Dave

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown

Here’s another great production from Shake-scene, the online theatre company who barely rehearses and only gives actor a cue script, consisting of their own line and the cues they need to listen out for. On paper, it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Online, it’s another remarkable piece of theatre.

It’s easy to assume that less rehearsal means less work but it probably means even more work during the performance. You have to be even more on the ball, if that’s possible. Unless you’re using a full script of the play (which is firstly cheating and secondly dangerous as you never know where there might be cuts) or you’re already very familiar with the play, the cues could come along at any point and you have to be ready.

There is a reason behind this approach. Research into how the actors rehearsed plays in Shakespeare’s time suggests that this is the rehearsal method which was used then. Cue scripts and not a great deal of rehearsal. So this is not only a very interesting challenge for actors, it’s a chance to see a really authentic production (cameras, Zoom and other miracles of modern technology aside).

A certain amount of rehearsal was done on this occasion because of all the… spoiler alert! murders and suicides. There is a bit of that going around and these death scenes are brilliantly coordinated, as well as being very emotionally affecting. The dexterity that’s needed to make scenes with physical contact look convincing is one that many really brilliant production companies have struggled with occasionally but Shakes-scene are especially good at it. If there were any issues, I didn’t see them.

There were lots of great moments but one scene that stood out to me in particular is the attack on Caesar. There is a very tense and dramatic build up and when it happens, the coordination between all the actors is spot-on. One of my favourite Zoom scenes – and I feel like I’ve seen several hundred!

The actors are all very good. Geoffrey Kirkness is particularly good as Caesar. He gives him a great sense of dignity and there’s a very strong impression that Caesar is a very intelligent and knowledgeable man who has lived through a lot of experiences and learned from them. Everything he says seems carefully considered and he’s the sort of man you can’t help wanting to listen to – it’s easy to see why he’s risen to the heights he has.

Matt Williams, as Brutus, presents him as a great orator – another who you really want to listen to. His scenes are dramatic and atmospheric, especially when he’s onscreen with Alexandra Kataigida, who plays Cassius. It’s a total cliché to say it but I don’t know how else to put it – these two make the scene sizzle. (Not in a sexual way, just like two really strong, powerful characters.) Alexandra isn’t always aggressively forceful, though she can be when she wants to be, but there’s something really compelling and almost magnetic in her performance. The kind of person where you can’t help going along with what they say.

Eugenia Low gives a very moving performance as Mark Antony. When I think of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, I think of Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet. Much as I like Julius Caesar, it doesn’t usually have the same sort of impact and it feels more like a drama than a tragedy but Eugenia brought out the tragedy brilliantly. Her ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ speech is riveting.

Linda Mathis’ terrified and earnest Calphurnia and Elizabeth Huxley’s agitated Portia also provide some really strong emotional moments. There’s also great characterisation from Ashleigh Harvey in all her roles. Geraldine Brennan shows her great comic timing as the Cobbler and plays her more serious roles just as well. Tamara Rittenhaler gives a very persuasive performance as Caska and the warnings of Eleanor Shannon’s Soothsayer are eerily ominous. Dewi Hughes is great in another horrible moment when he appears as Cinna the Poet. There are so many great moments from the actors who play multiple small roles.

There really is a bit of everything in Julius Caesar and the Shake-scene cast really make the most of it.