An All Female Julius Caesar

Repercussion Theatre’s latest Shakespeare-In-The-Park

By Byron Toben

How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown?

This passage is my favourite in all of Shakespeare and applies not only to The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, where it is recited by the conspirator Cassius upon the group stabbing of Caesar, but to the whole body of the Bard’s work.

the tragedy of julius caesar repercussion theatre westmountmag.caIndeed, Willy Shakespeare’s 37 plays have been translated into some 80 languages and performed in 100 countries! Was this quote prescient or what?

To this list of states and accents might now be added genders, as exemplified by the wonderful all female cast in this summer’s Repercussion Theatre’s Shakespeare-In-The-Park version of Julius Caesar, innovatively directed by Amanda Kellock. It is touring for 25 shows at various sites in and around Montreal. I caught it at its 5th night out at the leafy Westmount Park – a perfect setting for a summer theatre. (It will return there on July 30 and 31.)

This show is chock full of some of the most popular Montreal actors. Danette MacKay Is powerful as the arch conspirator Cassius. Leni Parker inhabits her role as Caesar with a natural imperiousness. Deena Aziz as the conflicted Brutus, “the noblest Roman of them all”, balances public good with private agony. Gitanjali Jain as Mark Antony, acquits herself well, being inevitably compared to Marlon Brando in the1953 movie version and Charlton Heston in the 1970 remake.

the tragedy of julius caesar repercussion theatre westmountmag.caIn all, 12 ladies portrayed 25 roles.

Stand outs like Tamara Brown played three, including Calpurnia, Caesar’s wife, as did Holly Gauthier-Frankel, including Portia, Brutus’s wife. Warona Setshwaelo added to crowd scenes as well as major conspirator Caska, “Speak, Hands, for me”.

In small but key roles was Catherine Varvaro, who played both the Soothsayer “Beware the Ides of March” and Cinna the poet, killed by the mob merely because his name was the same as Cinna the conspirator. She also doubled as the composer and percussionist.

An anonymous Irish ballad, Health To The Company, introduces the show and a Billy Bragg tune, Tender Comrade, ends it.

In between, lots of oration, fighting and enduring quotes.

On Adapting Shakespeare To Later Times, Places Or Gender

Orson Welles was involved in two of these. His 1937 Julius Caesar transposed the setting to Mussolini’s fascist Italy. In the same year, his Voodoo MacBeth with a Haitian setting won plaudits.

the tragedy of julius caesar repercussion theatre westmountmag.caJoe Papp of the New York Shakespeare festival produced a 1982 Hamlet in a circus setting. (Where better to recite “To be or not to be” than on a trapeze.) He also introduced Diane Verona as Hamlet. Shocking as this may have been to staid critics of the time, it was not unheard of.

The indomitable Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet as early as 1889.

Since then, you have such as Vanessa Redgrave doing Prospero, Fiona Shaw and Cate Blanchett as Richard II and Kathryn Hunter as both Richard III and King Lear.

More recently, all female casts have evolved from the lone woman playing a traditional man’s role. In particular, in 2012, Phillipa Lloyd produced an all female Julius Caesar in London. That one posited women prisoners doing the play. She is about to open an all female Henry IV in Manchester.

How times have slowly improved since Charles II allowed women to act on stage. See my review of The Compleat Female Stage Beauty on WestmountMag.ca, November 2015.

Anyway, the point, to extrapolate former federal minister John Cosbie, “You’ve come a long way, babies” and Sheila Kopp’s leaping retort, “We’re nobody’s babies”. So true.

the tragedy of julius caesar repercussion theatre westmountmag.ca

Julius Caesar continues at various parks until August 3 (with a rain date of August 4).
See Repercussiontheatre.com

No fees, donations accepted. Raffle prizes available.

Images: Studio Baron Photo


Byron Toben is the immediate past-president of the Montreal Press Club



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