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Theatre review: Imperium: Conspirator & Dictator

IMPERIUM: CONSPIRATOR and DICTATOR

Based on the Cicero novels by Robert Harris, adapted by Mike Poulton.

Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by RSC Artistic Director Greg Doran. First performed at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in November 2017. Transferred to London from 14th June.

From Robert Harris’s acclaimed Cicero trilogy of books about politics, sex, murder and oratory – Ancient Rome in a nutshell – we get what is essentially a story told in six new plays across an entire day of theatregoing (or two nights) adapted by Mike Poulton (RSC: Wolf Hall; Bring Up the Bodies). It never feels like a slog though, as each part is split across three acts with two full intervals. That world of over two thousand years ago straddling the Tiber races through time towards us at lightning speed to the present day, with Poulton’s use of modern day vernacular, visual gags referring to Donald Trump and talk of the newly-conquered Britain being just outside Europe reminding us that in politics, nothing ever changes.

The books told the story of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Senator, consul, Father of the Nation and orator, in volumes narrated by his slave and later freed secretary, Tiro. Olivier- and Tony Award-winner Richard McCabe (RSC: Associate Artist; School of Night; King John) leads the cast as Cicero. Tiro is retained in the stage production in this role, our go-between breaking the fourth wall with frequent comic asides. Joseph Kloska (RSC: Measure for Measure) portrays Tiro as earnest, intense and loyal in a finely-tuned performance, at Cicero’s side throughout his adult life.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (Richard McCabe) and Gaius Julius Caesar (Peter de Jersey) in Imperium: Dictator. Photo by Manuel Harlan © RSC
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Richard McCabe) and Gaius Julius Caesar (Peter de Jersey) in Imperium: Dictator. Photo by Manuel Harlan ©RSC

As the consummate politician and meddler, McCabe imbues Cicero with wit, ingenuity and a self-indulgent streak, but also shows his weaknesses, foibles and mistakes. Desire for a status symbol befitting the Father of the Nation, he buys a house from fellow Senator Crassus (David Nicolle) on the Palatine (from which we derive first the Italian, palazzo, then the English palace). Of course, he’s been played as part of a scheme to discredit him in the later trial of his consular colleague, Hybrida, played by Hywel Morgan (RSC: Queen Anne; The Alchemist).

Julius Caesar, played powerfully by Peter de Jersey, (RSC: Associate Artist; Hamlet; As You Like It) is shown as more rounded a character than usual. We see the uneasy friendship between him and Cicero, which ends when Caesar’s assassins dispatch the dictator, and Cicero denounces him to an uncomfortably sad Tiro – “We were his slaves!”. Before that, we see his return to Rome from conducting his Gallic wars, and his Triumph, where we first meet Octavian. Caesar’s nephew and posthumously adopted son, later to become the Emperor Augustus, is played by Oliver Johnstone (RSC: King Lear; Oppenheimer) with hints of ruthless determination that characterised his later rule. His right-hand man Agrippa, who in real life was later to be responsible for the repair of old aqueducts and a building programme of new ones to supply the expanding city, is a lot more blunt in his dealings with Cicero, mistrusting him.

A standout performance by Joe Dixon (RSC: Associate Artist; Boris Gudonov; The Orphan of Zhao) in the dual roles of Catiline and Marc Anthony ranges from hilarity to terror and anticipation at where he will take both roles.

Siobhán Redmond’s (RSC: Associate Artist; King John; Much Ado About Nothing) turn as Terentia, Cicero’s wife, is not blessed with a lot of stage time. As one of only four actresses in the cast, she probably has the most amongst them. She is variously deeply in love and exceptionally angry with Cicero, when he exiles himself to Brundisium after refusing Caesar’s perfection when the Republic falls for the first time. Terentia is left with his daughter Tullia (Jade Croot, an RSC veteran at age 19) pregnant with her sixth child and dangerously ill.

The aforementioned Trumpian visual gags come in the form of Christopher Saul’s (RSC: King Lear; The Canterbury Tales) Pompey Magnus. With his hair adrift and his self-importance boundless, the reference to the US President fits very nicely. Professor Dame Mary Beard assures us that Pompey indeed had a quiff, so it’s also historically accurate as far as can be determined.

Those with truly expert knowledge of Ancient Rome will find things missing or simplified, as I suspect perhaps in the novels too. Marc Anthony’s marriage to one of Hybrida’s daughters, for example, long before Fulvia and Cleopatra. For almost all of such theatregoers, I believe this will not matter a jot. One is always so present in the drama, swept along by Tiro, that there is no time for fact checking before we move on.

The excellent cast includes Eloise Secker as Clodia and Fulvia; Nicholas Boulton as the augur Metellus Celer and Nicholas Armfield as Clodius. Alisha Williams plays roles including Caesar’s second and third wives Pompeia and Calpurnia.

There is beautiful, evocative and dramatic music – trumpets and drums – by Paul Englishby, movement direction is by Anna Morrissey, (watch for some powerful filmic fight scenes in Part Two with fight director Terry King) lighting is by Mark Henderson and the designer is Anthony Ward, who uses brown brick and grey block to give us the various senatorial meeting places, people’s houses and battlefields with the help of a giant orb above the stage by RSC Production Video.

Until 8th September, Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. rsc.org.uk *****/*****

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Theatre review: Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company

I attended the press night of the RSC’s 2018 production of Macbeth but paid for my own ticket and lodgings.

Continuing my long-term project to see all of Shakespeare’s canon on stage, and a 2018 ambition to see more regional theatre, I left London for Stratford-upon-Avon. The last time I was here, making my radio documentary, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre was still undergoing reconstruction. So this was my first visit inside. The floorboards of the stage from the 1932 theatre have been salvaged and used around the outside of the auditorium in the rebuilt structure, a lovely touch. However, as Shakespeare wrote, the play’s the thing – and thats why I was here.

The cons – I was in an aisle seat to the extreme right of the thrust stage, which was mostly fine, except there were text projections above the stage which I couldn’t see. There was also a kind of mezzanine second stage á la the Globe Theatre I couldn’t see almost any of, but performers appeared there sometimes.

A digital clock at the mezzanine level began counting down after Macbeth kills Duncan, giving a helpful indicator of how long is left until the end of the play. However, in this action-light production, it felt a little like an (albeit fairly lenient) prison sentence marking the minutes until we were to be granted freedom. Get rid of it.

The three witches are played by three small girls clutching stuffed bears. Their key “boil boil” scene is moved to much later in the play than usual. I am not a Shakespeare scholar; I cannot wail feverishly about “the text” being butchered. But I noticed this change, and also that all the witch scenes were much shorter than those I have read in the First Folio, presumably to ease the load on the child actors. This does them a disservice, as the RSC should know from its productions of Les Misérables and Matilda the Musical that children acting can easily match adults in talent and stamina.

So to the adults. The famous Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Co-opted to describe the couple who cheated to game Who Wants to be a Millionaire? into giving them ill-gotten gains back in 2001 (a genius connection perhaps, but I’m seeing Quiz, James Graham’s exploration of the saga, next month). They were hardly on stage together and lacked chemistry when they were. It’s early in the run, perhaps, but I was disappointed. Christopher Eccleston is an emotion-driven, passionate actor – what made him such a good Doctor, and this is his Royal Shakespeare Company debut. Niamh Cusack I cannot particularly recall seeing in anything before, although I know the name. I didn’t feel that she was tormented much. Again, chemistry.

I must give a special mention to Ed Bennett as Macduff. Besuited, he was the spit of John Krasinski’s Jim from the U.S. version of The Office. He is a very low-key performer, his grief at the murder of his family palpable but still movingly understated, until the bubble bursts in the final scene, and he does for Macbeth. I saw him stand in for David Tennant in the title role of the RSC’s London run of Hamlet in 2008, and loved him. The last decade, in which he has worked consistently for the Company, have only improved his mastery of the craft. It was thoroughly enjoyable to see him again.

Look, overall, I wouldn’t rush to see this production. It’s coming to the Barbican in October and it will be likely fairly well received. It seems it is better than the National’s current production lead by Rory Kinnear and Ann-Marie Duff, which apparently relies on gore and an odd staging to draw the audience. So it’s up to you.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare, director Polly Findlay, is at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until September, and then at the Barbican Theatre, London, from October until January 2019. *** / *****

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Social Media call for Much Ado About Nothing

Update, October 2017: due to a five year agreement between the RSC and Equity expiring, I have had to remove the video of the Q&A session.

For a while now, I have had a half-baked ambition to see all of Shakespeare’s plays performed live on stage; the medium they were created for. This is not some kind of challenge to be rushed through, but something to be enjoyed and appreciated at my leisure. I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar in August 2012 and documented that here on my website. The RSC’s London season continued at the Nöel Coward Theatre with Much Ado About Nothing, again transferring from Stratford. I was reading about the play and discovered a page on the website advertising what the RSC described as a “social media call”. It’s been two years since I graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, and I haven’t worked in the industry since. I thought attending might be a good way to combine these two ideas, as friends and colleagues often ask why they haven’t yet heard or seen me on BBC News, or doing anything related to my degree. Well one – it’s tough and competitive out there, as is the jobs market. Two, that’s not something I’m entirely certain I’d enjoy. I thought I would try this though, as I’ve said. I let the RSC know I was interested in attending, and they confirmed my place.

At the theatre, we were given the opportunity to watch the actors and crew rehearsing before they were ready for us. We then watched a full dress run of act two, scene three, which includes Balthasar’s song “Sigh No More”, and Benedick’s soliliquoy. We were encouraged to take photos and video during this time, which I did, although I didn’t have a camera so had to use my iPhone. Most of the photos and videos are disappointing and can’t properly capture the vibrancy of the lighting design, nor the impressive set, complete with full-size tree, but I shall include some anyway.

Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
Madhav Sharma (Leonato), Paul Bhattacharjee (Benedick) and Shiv Grewal (Don Pedro)

What I did see of the show – I was unable to attend the evening performance I was invited to – was stunning. It is so easy for Shakespeare to be used as the height of drama, with wannabe Oliviers or Kenneth Branaghs giving their best RADA-taught performances. The RSC isn’t like that, and I liked the subtlety of what I saw, despite the scene being high-energy in parts, and even including singing and dancing. It was naturalistic Shakespeare and characters not only acted but re-acted to what was happening in the scene. Every performance the audience should feel as if the lines are being spoken for the first time, thought up in the brains of those on stage, not 500-year-old sentences. This production achieved that effortlessly.

Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3 - Anjana Vasan and newcomer Raj Bajaj
Anjana Vasan (Maid) and newcomer Raj Bajaj (Balthasar)


Once the scene had been performed, there was a question and answer session. The scene had taken longer than anticipated, meaning there was less time for the Q&A, and I didn’t get to ask any of my questions. Some similar ones were asked by others, however.

The actors and director Iqbal Khan were knowledgeable about what they were doing, and insightful in to the relevance of Shakespeare in 2012, following on from this year’s World Shakespeare Festival. One person attending the social media call asked the group about their experiences with “traditional Shakespeare” – making the unfortunate supposition that Shakespeare should be performed by white English actors. The late Paul Bhattacharjee, playing Benedick, was the first to respond in a video I’m no longer able to show here, but here’s a quote:

“You used the word tradition – you should be really aware of what you’re talking about, because there is a level of education in India that far exceeds our expectations… Why it’s such an easy fit is because [for example] Much Ado is a family tale. Now if there’s anything that we grow up with in India it’s great big epic family stories… I would say this is tradition”

Overall, I was very glad I had the opportunity to attend the social media call. It was only the second occasion I had been able to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and I am grateful for both of those times.

Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3 - Newcomer Raj Bajaj sings Balthasar's song Sigh No More
Newcomer Raj Bajaj (Balthasar) performs Sigh No More
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Theatre review: Julius Caesar

“Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare

  • Producer: Royal Shakespeare Company for its London season
  • Director: Gregory Doran
  • Theatre: Nöel Coward Theatre

This modern-day production of Shakespeare’s play takes place in Africa and features an all-black cast. Many familiar faces from TV and stage feature here, most notably Paterson Joseph as Brutus. It’s not specified where in Africa we are supposed to be, but the actors, some of whom were born and grew up in the UK, affect an east African accent according to director Gregory Doran. It’s the sort of accent you might hear in programmes that stereotype the continent. This in itself is not a problem, but combined with the acoustics in live theatre and the highly-charged emotion of several scenes, it sometimes made it difficult to make out words and even whole sentences.

I wasn’t familiar with the plot of Julius Caesar before the performance, but found myself picking up the odd phrase here and there that has entered popular culture over the years, the most famous of which is Shakespeare’s interpretation of the historic Caesar’s reaction to his friend’s betrayal: “Et tu, Brute?”. Each one of these was like a little tap on the shoulder taking me out of the play, but this is hardly this production’s fault; merely an observation on my journey to seeing all I can of the Bard performed live.

I left the theatre pleased that I was now closer to that goal. I had lots of questions about how the story documented by the play compared to what historians know about the real Caesar, so I did some research over the next few days. I discovered that Caesar was assassinated on the steps of a theatre, the ruins of which I soon realised I had visited, lying innocuously in one of Rome’s many cat-filled squares. This one features a sanctuary whose aim is to help the city’s strays. I sat on a wall surrounding the ruins – not open to the public, and a haven for the cats – for about fifteen minutes, trying to attract some of them to play, not realising the significance of what I had barely noticed behind me.

The last Shakespeare I’d seen was Richard III (Old Vic, directed by Sam Mendes, 2011) and the previous RSC production I’d seen was Hamlet (Novello, directed by Gregory Doran, 2008). I was excited to see the two brought together again.

Together with BBC Two, the RSC produced a film version, shot on location, of Doran’s Hamlet which was broadcast on Boxing Day 2009. Partnering with the BBC again in 2012, a TV version of Julius Caesar was broadcast on BBC Four, again with the same cast as the stage production but shot on location.; the joint trailer for both this and the stage production is below. This idea of creating a show for two different mediums is something I know the RSC wants to do more of, and Doran particularly seems adept at. Allowing the widest possible audience access to the work is very important, and these efforts, this time as part of the World Shakespeare Festival, are to be applauded.

Trailer for the production

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Documentary update

I’ve decided to make my documentary available publicly on this website. What I have done so far – I have lots more material from both Peter Davison and Liz Thompson – is part one. The second part I haven’t created yet, but it will be more raw than the first part. Look forward to it in the coming weeks!

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A finished documentary

After seven months, my radio documentary is finished. It’s finished to the standards required originally, but not quite to my satisfaction. It’s currently fifteen minutes long, but I have some great unused material which I’d love to include.

My plan is to work on an extended version of the documentary, containing more raw audio than the current programme. I’ll upload it here when complete.