There is nice pleasure in travelling to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see Shakespeare carried out on the theatre and by an organization that bears his title. It is a pleasant setting and even on a chilly spring afternoon, a stroll alongside the Avon reflecting on its historic heritage and supper within the Theatre’s glorious Rooftop Restaurant makes the journey a particular occasion. The recollections of seeing Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Dame Judi Dench, or Sir Anthony Sher carry out the good roles of the canon construct the anticipation of seeing a play even when we have now seen the title carried out earlier than. The RSC has an enormous duty to showcase the works, to broaden their enchantment and improve and construct on its four-hundred-year legacy. The steadiness between innovation within the staging to “freshen” its enchantment and staying true to the historic story is the Director’s duty and the alternatives he makes will decide the success of placing this steadiness.
These points are compounded by casting adjustments of gender for Cassius (Kelly Gough), Brutus (Thalissa Teixeira) and different conspirators which rebalances the solid gender combine however adjustments the texture of the roles to bickering sisters reasonably than highly effective “kingmakers”. The casting of Ella Dacres as Octavius wearing battle fatigues labored satisfactorily as the brand new Leader. Annabel Baldwin brings an vitality and robust presence because the Soothsayer, partaking the viewers nicely with their eyes.Nigel Barrett as Julius Caesar suffers too from costuming and staging and doesn’t stand out as a pacesetter till he returns in pink as a ghost and joins a bunch of lifeless conspirators within the giant spinning dice upstage. William Robinson as Mark Anthony does no less than seize our consideration in his pivotal well-known speech “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him” and its dialogue of honourable males and their ambition (though traces like “she is an honourable man” jar) and we really feel he’s addressing us. Another success is Jamal Ajala as Brutus’s attendant Lucius who BSL indicators his traces, and this brings a robust depth to Brutus’s dying.
The thrust stage is backed by the big dice with projected pictures and whereas some are apparent like the photographs of storm clouds gathering, others are merely distracting and complicated and when the dice spins in First Act the interiors revealed are naked and devoid of any sense of location. Only within the Second Act when it spins does it have a function which is the creation of some type of afterworld wanting down on the survivors.Perhaps this modern-dressed, gender-blind solid with its energetic motion will enchantment to a youthful new demographic nevertheless it left me chilly, disinterested and bemused and whereas often the spirits had been lifted by one of many many basic speeches from this highly effective political tragedy, it did not ship on the anticipation and expectation created by a go to to Stratford Upon Avon. The new Artistic Director might want to be certain that the RSC does get the steadiness proper between honouring the immense legacy of the work and modernising the storytelling to resonate with the present society and perpetuate that legacy.
Review by Nick Wayne
Rating: ★★
Seat: Row H | Price of Ticket: £80