I see Julius Caesar

Matt and I have been going to see the Colorado Shakespeare Festival again this season. (Although they replaced the Shakespeare improv group with two kid-friendly plays we're so skipping.) The first was Midsummer Night's Dream, which I think I've seen quite enough now. Their performance wasn't spectacular either, and the clown-like costumes on the fairy king and queen were very distracting. It was, however, the best version of the mechanicals' Pyramus and Thisbe, which made up for a lot. And then The Servant of Two Masters, one of their non-Shakespeare selections, was played a little too screwball. I'm also sure it probably had a lot of wordplay in the original Italian, none of which made it into the English. There was one stand-out performance in the part of Florindo. He carried this outlandish smile of naîve confindence throughout the play, and managed to strike such ridiculous poses in all seriousness. It really made the whole play actually stand up.

Turns out the same actor was in Julius Caesar as Mark Antony. Well now, this is a bit of an intriguing change. So we go to see the opening last night, and it was really well done. We were very impressed with The Tempest last year, particularly since it's a more difficult play, but I rather think this Julius Caesar was right up there. Matt, of course, prefers more traditional performances. They set it a few decades in the future, with all the familiar dystopian scenery and costume choices (a big pile of wrecked TVs; drab, utilitarian but rather ill-fitting clothes; a prophetess with strange cords connecting to her body and a screen over an eye). They also rather enjoyed all the blood in the play. They did intermission just as first blade is inches from Caesar, then began right up again there complete with techno music killing frenzy. It really did play like a movie version for the stage, right down to the servant putting Cassius out of "her" misery with a bullet to the head after she falls on her sword. Aside from all that, though, the performances by the leads were quite good, particularly Antony, who pulls off being more sympathetic than usual, which just makes you uneasy with both sides' choices. Also, they made Octavian a total spaz who stabs a beer can with a knife to drink it. It worked surprisingly well with the lines.