Julius Caesar (2009)

[danielwhit]

I missed this first time round, so am going on Saturday to make up for the lack of experience!

What did everybody make of the production?

[Lorannah]

It's not one of my favourites but I liked it enough to see it again and have booked for the Roundhouse too. Going to try and be not too spoilery about the production, may fail awfully.

It's well worth heading into the theatre early before the show - as their is a great pre-show performance, which simply but effectively lays down a lot of the more interesting themes within the piece. Though whether it works so well if you're not familiar with the mythology it's representing I'm not sure.

Most of my issues with the production stemmed from the staging - a lot of video projection is used, which as both times I was seated to the side, I could barely see - it's one of the few flaws of the thrust stage. Plus I think relying too much on video work, especially to build crowds feels quite dated now, the repetitiveness of the figures grows distracting - I like the approach of using the audience more - they did this in the Histories apparently (which I'm still gutted I missed) and they do this somewhat in the speech section here. Which was by far my favourite section.

I had mixed feelings about the costumes too. Some of it I liked, there are some very sleek interesting designs and Caesar's costumes are incredible (saw them up close). Some of it I felt was a bit generically "Roman" which left me ambivalent. Very much disliked the way they way created 'dirty soldier skin' although I do understand the constraints they were working under, the wrinkling was annoying. And spent quite a bit of time distracted trying to work out if they were actually wearing 90's style women's culottes (that weird skirt but actually has a split thing).

What really made this production for me was the performances - it was the first time I really sat up and took notice of Sam Troughton who I think has been doing some great work with the company. Both John Mackay and Greg Hicks were excellent, of course. But it was really Darrell Da Silva who won me over - weirdly I think he's a fantastic Antony here but I'm not so sure about him in Antony and Cleopatra - and his speech at the end of the first act gave me incredible goose bumps, I'd pretty much pay the ticket price just to see that part again.

Also, although the play doesn't have very many female roles, I think both Hannah Young and Noma Dumezweni are fantastic in them. Of course, I'd happily pay to hear Noma read the phone book - so there you go.

Hope you enjoy it and let us know what you think.

[danielwhit]

Thanks for that - I usually pitch up in the auditorium as soon as I can anyway, taking the time to read the programme backwards etc.

Might struggle with sightlines myself - out on the wings of the £5 16-25 tickets.

[danielwhit]

Pleased to report sightlines were far from an issue.. infact, there were a good few empty seats dotted about so could easily have moved myself round!

I hadn't seen much in the way of projections before, so really enjoyed that aspect. That said, I did spend a lot of time thinking "ok, surely that post is in the way.. and where on earth is that being projected from?", which jarred it for me a little!

I never noticed the wrinkling of the skin-costumes for a while, and being sat in the circle I was far enough to ignore them. It wasn't the best work I've seen on the costume front - but certainly all of RSC's standard high quality!

I have to agree with you, Lorannah, about the performances. I thought a lot more about Sam's Brutus than I did his Romeo, he came over as a lot more a rounded character (and strangely, more likeable, which makes little sense but there you go!).

I much prefer Hicks as Lear than Caesar, and after seeing Antony & Cleopatra found it slightly distracting to see Cassius being played by John Mackay after seeing his Octavius Caesar in the effective sequal. Though, he did a very good job at it.

I prefered Darrell in Tony & Pat than in this, probably just as he gets more chance to shine - Antony's big speech in this is obviously distracted by the crowds in the background (sorry, but that one did wind me up - spent ages trying to follow beams to see where it was being projected from!). In his title show, his character has much more of a development, which I am sensing to be something he does rather well (Sam, even, I didn't sense much of a development from his character at the start to end).

Female wise - what on earth was the point of having Samantha Young as Soothsayer's Acolyte?.. Clearly a way to get her on stage so she can cover Portia, but it does seem a waste of her (I've always thought more of her than Hannah Young, so I'd have happily switched them!).

Overall though, even though I'm giving a lot of gripes - I thoughly enjoyed it. Now.. when am I going to see to see A Winter's Tale?...

[Lorannah]

Jul 31, 2010 20:49:24 GMT danielwhit said:

I prefered Darrell in Tony & Pat than in this, probably just as he gets more chance to shine - Antony's big speech in this is obviously distracted by the crowds in the background (sorry, but that one did wind me up - spent ages trying to follow beams to see where it was being projected from!). In his title show, his character has much more of a development, which I am sensing to be something he does rather well (Sam, even, I didn't sense much of a development from his character at the start to end).

Perhaps I had an advantage with my poor view of the projections on that front at least, that speech is what has stuck in my head about the projection. It was definitely a goose bump moment for me and was the main reason I saw it twice.

It's interesting what you said about the development issue because I'd agree. I heard through the grapevine somewhere along the line, that some of the cast were frustrated at how long the projections had taken to film because they felt they'd not had enough time to work on the characterisation. So that may have contributed to the problem.

Female wise - what on earth was the point of having Samantha Young as Soothsayer's Acolyte?.. Clearly a way to get her on stage so she can cover Portia, but it does seem a waste of her (I've always thought more of her than Hannah Young, so I'd have happily switched them!).

It's one of the difficulties of the ensemble in a way, though a minor one - that because you have a certain number of performers for each production you end up with odd, unused characters in the background. It can add a feeling of richness to the world, but simultaneously it can be distracting and seem superfluous. And like you said, the understudy issue adds to that. I guess from an acting point of view it's better at least than being sat in the green room every night wondering if you'll have to go on.

Overall though, even though I'm giving a lot of gripes - I thoughly enjoyed it. Now.. when am I going to see to see A Winter's Tale?...

I know what you mean. I really liked the production, but unlike some of the others, it's been easy to me to pick out the elements I had problems with. In some ways it's easier to pin point those than the things I liked so I end up feeling like I'm offering nowt but criticism.

[Witch 1]

Jul 31, 2010 20:49:24 GMT danielwhit said:

I have to agree with you, Lorannah, about the performances. I thought a lot more about Sam's Brutus than I did his Romeo, he came over as a lot more a rounded character (and strangely, more likeable, which makes little sense but there you go!).

I've just finished reading the play and I must say I found him likeable enough, because he does what he does for the right reasons, and he insists on Antony not being killed which then leads to his own downfall.