{"id":1501,"date":"2012-11-28T12:49:27","date_gmt":"2012-11-28T12:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2012-11-28T12:49:27","modified_gmt":"2012-11-28T12:49:27","slug":"review-julius-caesar-new-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk\/quench\/culture\/review-julius-caesar-new-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Julius Caesar, New Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Alexandra Warren reviews Gregory Doran’s\u252c\u00e1take on the Shakespearean classic\u252c\u00e1Julius Caesar.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory Doran’s production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar translates the play effectively from ancient Rome to modern Africa whilst losing none of its power. An all-black cast, traditional music and costumes lends a fresh urgency to the fear of tyranny from a continent that has been home to so many. The exposure of instability and pettiness of politics is also heightened by both Caesar and the conspirators.<\/p>\n

A sinister shadow is cast over the returning hero in the opening scene by the presence of propaganda-like posters. Jeffrey Kissoon’s Caesar also gives subtle nods to more recent dictators, dressed in an Idi Amin style safari suit and displaying a touch of Stalinesque paranoia in the scene where he debates going to the senate, pacing up and down the stage.<\/p>\n

Although in most productions portrayed as the noble idealist among jealous and petty politicians, Brutus too is flawed. Paterson Joseph plays him as self-righteous rather than morally superior which leads him to a tactical blunder \u00d4\u00c7\u00f4 his ‘gallant’ sparing of Mark Antony leads to his ultimate downfall.<\/p>\n

The conspirators as always display a level of pettiness and squabbling of power-grabbing politicians and the often likeable Antony is here arrogant and sly. The famous ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ speech is delivered strongly in front of a changeable crowd, almost parodying the fickleness of public opinion.<\/p>\n

Doran’s production has brought the discussion of the ethics of political murder into the foreground by dusting the cobwebs off the play, and giving it a well carried off boost.<\/p>\n

Alexandra Warren\u252c\u00e1<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexandra Warren reviews Gregory Doran’s\u252c\u00e1take on the Shakespearean classic\u252c\u00e1Julius Caesar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[176,10],"tags":[447,448,449,450],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-reviews","category-culture","tag-gregory-doran","tag-julius-caesar","tag-new-theatre","tag-shakespeare"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Julius Caesar, New Theatre - 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