JULIUS CAESAR
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is a hero of the people, having just emerged victorious from a civil war. The people wish to crown him, when his colleagues in the Roman senate band together and murder him on the senate floor. His assassination is at first accepted by the masses, who buy into Brutus’s speech that Caesar was dangerously ambitious. But their emotions are immediately swayed in the other direction after that famous speech by Marc Antony (“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears”), who implants the idea that Brutus murdered Caesar for ignoble reasons. His speech incites the masses to riot, all hell breaks loose, and the civil war is renewed–bringing up important questions concerning public dissent, power, and political personalities.
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But despite the best efforts of the actors, the play doesn’t move forward as grippingly as it could. For example, there is no sense of impending doom during the act-one stormy night, when Caesar’s enemies conspire to murder him. Just as the heat of summer plays a role in Romeo and Juliet, the storm plays on the emotions of the characters in Julius Caesar, helping to create an air of foreboding. Lighting designer Mark Galbraith and sound designer Jeff Stilson barely create a sense of nighttime, let alone storms and eerieness.
