Review: Bridge Theatre, Julius Caesar

In the streets of Rome, a mob gathers: drinking beer, waving flags, and jumping to the beat of 'Eye of the Tiger'...

The newly-opened Bridge Theatre has done it again - with its versatile auditorium and vibrant, trendy style, the theatre's second ever production met with fantastic reviews. Willing to take bold new risks, its production of Julius Caesar transformed this sometimes-tedious historical narrative into a wild, howling thing, brimming with restlessness, anxiety and pain. Here's my thoughts. 

From the outset, the Bridge Theatre's production of Julius Caesar looked to be different from the traditional, 'toga-ed' version that the RSC staged in 2017. The initial publicity shot showed the four lead actors - David Calder, David Morrissey, Ben Whishaw, and Michelle Fairley - in modern dress; Morrissey, cast as Mark Antony, wore modern army khakis. The dark backdrop, with police officers, riot shields, and unruly protesters wrestling in the gloom alluded to the politically-charged aspects of the play, and how these might be translated onto our current climate. Additionally, that a female actor (Fairley) was cast as Cassius promised more gender-equality in the cast, supporting the notion of a modern retelling.   

 

But it wasn't known, until the run began, the reviews came out, and the production gained momentum on social media, how far Nicholas Hytner (director) and Bunny Christie (production designer) would go. 

The auditorium was almost unrecognisable from the last time I had seen it, when it was set up in proscenium arch for Young Marx. There remained two levels of seating on the lower and upper galleries, but this time encircling the auditorium, looking in on the stage space from 360 degrees. The stalls level was gone, and in its place a large, open arena, with two entrances either end. This 'promenade' staging transformed the theatre into something more akin to a concert arena, or sports stadium (or, with the play's Roman setting, its bloodshed and carnage, perhaps the Colosseum?) 

When I saw the production I was seated, but from this vantage point I could watch as the standing spectators were immersed in the action - becoming at times the mob, at others the senate - both a part-of and privy-to the play's public displays and private machinations. Before Caesar's arrival in the senate, a huge red flag, emblazoned with insignia, was drawn parachute-like over the sea of heads. After Caesar's assassination, the crowd were commanded to 'get down!', by the members of crowd-control in their midst. At various points, posters, flags, balloons and other items of propaganda were distributed, visually illustrating the shifts in the mob's loyalties to us looking on from above. 

Sometimes, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare's plays, particularly the histories, can fall flat. At the Bridge, it soared - an urgent, poignant retelling of a story that has more in tune with our current climate than one might guess. It pierces our modern sensibilities too, making the play all the more frightening. The crowd being forced to their knees at the shooting of Caesar sends a chill down our spines, as we witness what would unfold should one of our current world leaders be assassinated. The use of guns make the deaths - both Caesar's murder and the suicides of Cassius and Brutus at the end - much more abrupt and absolute. One aspect I found particularly chilling was the way Decius Brutus (Leila Farzad), despite being a part of the 'liberators', weeps and trembles on the steps, shell-shocked by the sight of Caesar's blood. 

The modernisation of the play also makes the battle scenes at Philippi all the more horrific. Modern warfare is much more intrusive and destructive than the staged swordfights of antiquity - Brutus's tent undergoes constant bombing and gunfire, achieved by a terrific use of stage effects. Flashing lighting, surround sound, and debris dropped from the rafters all combine to place the characters in the midst of the battle, giving the scene a terrifying immediacy. When the scene begins, Brutus (Whishaw) is helping the medics to resuscitate a wounded soldier; in his argument with Cassius (Fairley), he brushes dust off his plates and out of his mugs, hungrily wolfs down a makeshift meal, then collapses, exhausted, on a threadbare sofa. Instead of being an organised tactic meeting set far away from the battlefield, we catch the characters in a moment's lull, where the chaos and the fighting may flare up again at any moment.

Ben Whishaw was, for me, the stand-out performance of this production. Rarely do I find myself pitying Brutus - Alex Waldmann's portrayal at the RSC in 2017 was, I found, too stroppy and weepy (though I choose to blame it on bad casting rather than a lack of talent, as he played a fantastic Orlando in the RSC's 2013 As You Like It). But Whishaw's embodiment of Brutus was a pitch-perfect approach to this serious, tormented character.

He portrayed Brutus as a scholar, almost constantly flicking through dog-eared tomes of philosophy and history as he weighs his feelings and his judgments. He is at once both distracted and intensely tuned-in: reserved at times, but steadfastly resolute at others. In this production, Brutus is a man who, for the first time in his life, misjudges a step and looses his footing, and we can't help but feel heartsore for him when he drops - silently, gracefully - to the ground.


Julius Caesar runs at the Bridge Theatre on London's Southbank until 15 April 2018.



Photo credits:

Company of Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre, 2018. Photo by Manuel Harlan, found here.
Publicity shot, found here. 
The Bridge Theatre auditorium for Julius Caesar, found here. 
Company of Julius Caesar, found here.
Michelle Fairley and Ben Whishaw, found here. 
Ben Whishaw, photo by Manuel Harlan, found here.