This is undoubtedly the best Julius Caesar that I have ever seen. (even counting the Stratford production with RH Thomson as Mark Anthony, where he had all the teenagers in the audience swooning over his good looks and great physique).
Ben Carlson as Brutus, Tom Rooney as Cassius, Jonathan Goad as Mark Anthony, Geraint Wynn Davies as Caesar - does it get any better than this?
Goad's rendition of the " Friends, Romans, Countrymen" speech was superb. The staging with the mob in the aisles and around the theatre was hugely effective. You could believe that you were in the middle of the mob.
I loved the costumes - very futuristic and elegant, they communicated the message that wars and politics have not changed and won't in the future.
I rarely notice the music in a play, but this was superb. subtle, but totally capturing the feeling. Alfred Schnittke wrote the music the sound was based on.
Okay, finally something I can disagree with Cathy on in this year's season. Not her view of the play overall - it was a great production and the best I have seen too, despite the Avon not being the best place to stage this play.
ReplyDeleteThe cast was great; if Goad ever gets into politics, I'm going to leave the country, he was frighteningly effective.
Now to my disagreement: the costumes sucked. I got over them after a while, but they were a needless distraction - the kilty things over the pants looked like the whole male cast had forgotten to tuck their shirts in.
PS: In the earlier production, the teenagers weren't the only people swooning over R.H. Thompson - I considered suing for alienation of affection.
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