Gregg Henry, center, and the company                   (Credit: Joan Marcus)

 

 

 

                                By Arney Rosenblat

 

The current retelling of the life and death of Julius Caesar, the 400 year old historic tale by William Shakespeare, has become a battle field, with friends of the present political administration whipping up the crowds to anger and retaliation just as Marc Antony did in his oration after Caesar's assassination. In this case one result being that two long standing corporate sponsors of Shakespeare in the Park have pulled their support of the current production.

 

However, as the Public Theater responded this "production of Julius Caesar in no way advocates violence towards anyone"  Shakespeare's play and the production, which changed but three of the Bard of Avon's words, makes the opposite point: "those who defend democracy by undemocratic means pay a terrible price and destroy the very thing they are fighting to save."  In fact, Caesar's assassins all meet equally brutal ends and democracy in the West was set back 2000 years.  

 

What is causing the hue and cry in director Oscar Eustis' interpretation of Julius Caesar is how he deftly visually draws the analogy between the would-be dictator Julius Caesar and our newly elected president Donald Trump.  The leap is not as outrageous as it might sound since Shakespeare drew Caesar as a vain, manipulative and arrogant man. 

 

Tina Benko, Gregg Henry, Teagle F. Bougere, and Elizabeth Marvel.               Photo by Joan Marcus.

 

The image of a petulant poufy blond Julius Caesar, perfectly played by Gregg Henry, carrying a cell phone, wearing a blue suit and long red tie. brings the audience to full-throated laughter as does the image of his wife Calpurnia, also perfectly played by Tina Benko, as a pouty Slavic beauty. Audience members also found Caesar's gold bathtub irresistible.  

 

All that audience glee is shortly turned to shocked silence by the painfully realistic assassination of Caesar that follows. It is here that the analogy between the two political figures becomes strained. The dual eulogies lauding Caesar, first by Brutus, the only conspirator truly thinking of his country first, and the second by Marc Antony, who cleverly whips the crowd to mindless violence, both raise Caesar to an almost godlike status.

 

Like the production, the casting in Julius Caesar is contemporary and boundary breaking being both color and gender blind.  Some of the choices work better than others.  John Douglas Thompson as Cassius and Teagle F. Bougere as Casca were effective and moving in their roles as conspirators.  Corey Stoll made for a touching and sympathetic Brutus, which reinforced his character as perhaps the real tragic hero in the play. Although Elizabeth Marvel certainly made Marc Antony her own and was well received for her dynamic creative performance by the audience at hand, changing the gender of that character was somewhat of an unnecessary distraction. Another questionable bit of casting came in having all of the conspirators except Brutus either black or female.

 

The cautionary mood conveying the destructive impact of violence was evident even before the play began with the placement of posters and floral memorials on the stage  The audience was even encouraged to add their own thoughts with post-it notes to two placards one reading "I Hope For..." and the other "I Mourn For..."  Once the play was in motion, the authoritarian message was successfully conveyed in David Rockwell's set design which featured giant wheels and American allusions such as the preamble to the constitution.  Likewise, with the costuming by Paul Tazwell which featured black trench coats for the conspirators and black military riot gear and uniforms for the ever-present army.

 

Whether or not you agree with Oskar Eustis approach to Julius Caesar, you will definitely be mulling it over and talking about it long after you leave the Delacorte Theater.  This is perhaps what Mr. Eustis is striving to achieve - a means to compel us as members of the audience to think about how far should a nation's citizens go in taking down a destructive leader and what might be the long term consequences of that act.

 

 PS: For those curious about the three words Mr. Eustis added to the Shakespeare play, the line in question was "If Caesar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less," to which was added "on Fifth Avenue" preceding the coma.

 

 

Off Broadway play

The Delacorte Theater

81 Central Park West

212 539-8500

www.publictheater.org

Closing date: June 18