Hail, Caesar, and Farewell, Summer

Before the show begins, Director Robert Currier discloses one big problem that showed up during rehearsals of Marin Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar: the laundry! (Reasons why will soon be apparent.) Another problem for the actors was learning to manage a toga. This final production of the season is not a modern-dress update of The Bard’s tragedy; it’s the fully costumed original, anachronisms (clocks) and all. Yet much of it seems modern and accessible.

Currier gives credit to veteran actor Barry Kraft for inspiring him to stage Caesar, a first in MSCo’s twenty years. Kraft had already played almost every major Shakespearean role, but never this play’s title role, and he wanted to do it. In spite of the Director’s own reservations – “the first play millions of teenagers are subjected to around the English speaking world” – Robert Currier planned Julius Caesar for the 2009 summer season, then found that “contemporary parallels are everywhere.”

The play was especially contemporary when it opened in 1599, possibly the first ever staged at the newly-opened Globe Theatre in London. At that time, Queen Elizabeth was aging and had no heir, and anxiety about the nation’s future was building. So William Shakespeare, who knew how to sell theatre tickets as well as write, crafted this parallel story from the writings of Plutarch, a Greek biographer, and his tale of similar fears in ancient Rome.

Shakespeare’s Romans have histories with one another, complex motivations and loyalties. Julius Caesar, though the central character, is not the mover of events. That task belongs to Brutus and Cassius, deftly portrayed by Jay Karnes and Jack Powell, respectively. The crowd – an unpredictable, bipolar force – has already offered Caesar the crown; he might be close to acceptance. Then the skies open with a furious thunderstorm ( Billie Cox and Ellen Brooks' design,) declaring an ominous future. Alarmed, Brutus and Cassius, reinforced by Casca (Stephen Klum) and Cinna (Lucas McClure,) plot to kill Caesar, fearing that his ambition will undo the republic.

But Brutus’ wife Portia (Cat Thompson) demands to know, “Who were those men?” and begs her husband not to go to the Senate. Caesar’s wife Calpurnia (Alexandra Matthew) has seen portents, had bad dreams, and she too begs her husband to stay away. Even Artemidorus (Carl Holvick-Thomas,) a citizen friendly to Caesar, writes a letter naming the plotters and passes it to Caesar on his way to the Senate, urging him to read it immediately. All to no avail. Within minutes, the gory deed is done.

The first funeral speech is delivered by a self-bloodied Brutus, in defense of the assassination. It’s followed by Mark Antony’s famed address (William Elsman,) in which the phrase, “Brutus is an honorable man,” takes on ever-more sinister shadings. There will be war.

The play’s second act, though furnished with a beautifully-constructed quarrel scene between Brutus and Cassius and the necessary clashing battle, seems anticlimactic compared to Act One. But see how much of this script has found its way into our language: “Beware the ides of March.” “The fault . . . is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” “It was Greek to me.” “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” “Let slip the dogs of war!” “. . . the unkindest cut of all.” “. . . the noblest Roman of them all.”

Julius Caesar, alive or dead, still has a lot to say.

Marin Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar will play in repertory with Twelfth Night, or All You Need is Love in the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre at Dominican University through Sept. 26. Ticket prices range from $15 to $30. For a complete performance schedule and additional information, please see www.marinshakespeare.org or call the box office, 499-4488.