Review: Julius Caesar

Political turmoil brews in African Rome at the Norwich Theatre Royal this week, in The Royal Shakespeare Company’s stirring performance of Julius Caesar.

Gregory Doran’s production is far from the first to set Julius Caesar in modern Africa, but it quickly shows why the link is made. It is a play of political tension, turmoil and violent uprising – a dictator is killed, but will a worse one take his place?

If this play were performed with a western cast, it would remind the audience of European revolutions almost a century old. Performed by its all-African cast, the Shakespearian prose suddenly cuts with an extremely relevant blade.

This relevance was felt by Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania, when he translated the play into Swahili. It was also felt by Nelson Mandela, who drew strength from the text whilst imprisoned on Robben Island.

It is a plot of political urgency – one that African culture responds to in a way that ours cannot. This urgency is delivered by every member of the cast. The bard’s words are so well performed, and so well suited to their setting, that the play could have been written earlier this year.

Entering the auditorium, the audience find the stage already alive with a crowded African street party. A local band perches on steps that look like Roman ruins as well as urban concrete.

A foreshadowing statue of Caesar, with his back to us, looms in the background. Again, the statue could easily be Roman or modern.

The play grows decidedly more Roman towards the end of the first act (for example, the plotters hide themselves with robes that gradually become togas) to give Caesar’s death its iconic look.

However, Africa is never forgotten, and the realistic quality it adds drives the tension of the second act.

The Royal Shakespeare Company lives up to its reputation by delivery some unreserved performances.

Every speech is either pained or stirring. Brutus (Paterson Joseph) and Cassius (Cyril Nri), in particular, are memorable, living characters, and successfully carry most of the play. However, Ray Fearon’s performance as Marc Anthony steals the spotlight.

Marc Anthony’s scene at the end of the first act seems like a powerful one, until it is overshadowed by his speech at Caesar’s funeral. This famous piece of writing could have been written for Fearon.

His performance finds every level of emotion in the clever text, and even though it is a commonly quoted scene, his words sound spontaneous. The complex prose becomes something raw.

This scene alone could be watched repeatedly, and is a lesson to all stage actors in how to handle Shakespeare.

If you enjoy Julius Caesar, or if you want a good first experience of it, then this is a good production to see. It takes a famous play, and a famous form of adapting it, and still manages to create something of its own.

A word of warning should go to those who struggle with Shakespeare. The dialogue is dense, and exchanges are hard to follow in some of the cast’s accents.

It is a heavy play, but it is being dealt with by a company that is passionate about it. If you can follow the bard, then follow him to Africa this week.