Julius Caesar
This political tragedy portrays the plot against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar and follows his assassination and aftermath of the event. This is one of a few plays written by the Bard who’s title character is not the protagonist. The play is truly about Marcus Brutus (Mike Peebler) and his struggles with friendship and patriotism. The play was a commentary on the anxiety of the time, wherein Queen Elizabeth had yet to name a successor and it was feared civil war would erupt in England following her death if she did not.
The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum presents this tale of honor and ambition with great potency as if it had been written today. Directed by Ellen Geer, the fickle emotions of the masses can be felt from the opening moments to the closing as they cheer a returning and victorious Caesar and later accept his assassination in one breath and weep for his death in another. The cast is solid and with nearly no fault at all.
The greatest of the cast being Aaron Hendry as Marc Antony, who has the audience eating out of his hands from the opening moments. The sheer power of his “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech was breathtaking, as in one moment he has you laughing and the next weeping and the next filled with anger. You can feel how he manipulates the very people to bend to his will. Yet Mike Peebler as Marcus Brutus holds his own against Hendry, creating a conflicted man of the state and a truly tragic figure, as Peebler shows us how just Brutus’ actions are and yet how fowl at the same time. While they do not have many moments together, when they do as in Caesar’s assassination scene, it is pure electricity.
Melora Marshall plays Caius Cassius with a gracefully sinister quality, you can’t help but loath her and fear for Brutus and the work she would have him do. Susan Angelo is just lovely as Portia, Brutus’ wife, and the only fault one can find is that she simply wasn’t in enough of the play. Her scene with Brutus was a tender and brilliant moment of their private life within this political windstorm.
This production captures the familiar tale of misguided ambition in politics and the destruction that can cause, ultimately to the people that are meant to be spared. In Rome, there are no winners after all the blood has been spilt, but the audience was full of them after a night in the theatre with this production.