Julius Caesar at Folger Theatre

Julius Caesar

Folger Theatre
201 East Capitol Street, SE Washington

Beware the Ides of March, Caesar. Julius Caesar returns home victorious, securing both unparalleled power and popularity. Fearful for the Republic and driven by their own ambition, several senators conspire to assassinate the Roman dictator in the Capitol. However, their brash move plunges Rome into chaos and threatens the very democracy they swore to uphold. In the shadow of the nearby Capitol building, Shakespeare’s searing commentary on power, ambition, and democratic responsibility smolders just in time for midterm elections.

Thru - Dec 7, 2014

Price: start at $40

Box Office: 202-544-7077

Running Time: 2 Hrs, 14 mins;one intermission

www.folger.edu/wosummary.cfm?woid=931

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Julius Caesar Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...The staging is lean and hungry, and, for the most part, it effectively frames Shakespeare’s persuasive speeches and murderous rationalizations. The acting certainly is crisp and even has a supple human face at its core, courtesy of Anthony Cochrane’s even-keeled Brutus. Cochrane has a quick smile that can be rueful or political, and his Brutus — the conspirator whose stabbing of his friend and increasingly powerful Caesar is called the “most unkindest cut of all” — has a consistently light and thoughtful touch. The soliloquy making up his mind is coolly underplayed, drawing you to this conflicted figure."

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- Nelson Pressley

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...Folger Theatre launches its 2014-15 season with a strikingly imaginative production of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, a play whose contradictions and cruelties mirror the bewildering politics of our time. On the eve of an important midterm election, it is well to be reminded of what politics can do, and what it can’t do, to improve the lot of humankind."

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- Sophia Howes

MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended

"...For this production, Richmond was partly inspired by a visit to Arlington Cemetery, and you can sense that in Tony Cisek’s appropriately grim set. Big stone blocks are stacked and fanned out to create a curved staircase, which also doubles as a back wall for a Roman forum and a memorial for Caesar, complete with an eternal flame. Beyond the great set, Richmond once again smartly employs lighting designer Jim Hunter and sound designer Eric Shimelonis to conjure the right shadowy, foggy, ominous sense of place. Even more impressive is the way Richmond, working with fight director Casey Dean Kaleba, has his actors move — from the lurching lost souls to the multiple slow-motion battle scenes to the marches and synchronized hand gestures showing group solidarity. Everything here is stylized in an evocative, even elegant manner, with every detail carefully thought out, right down to the poppy petals that are regularly tossed out after each death."

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- Doug Rule

Washington City Paper - Recommended

"...Grave does not mean humorless. It’s tough to parse how Shirine Babb, as Portia, Brutus’ plus-one, earns a laugh simply by limping in her next scene after she stabs herself in the thigh to prove herself worthy of her brooding husband’s confidence, but she pulls it off. The murder of Cinna the Poet (he’s mistaken by a mob for Cinna the conspiring senator, one of the small number of scenes wholly credited to Shakespeare, as opposed to Plutarch’s Lives) can’t help but be funny when a member of the crowd answers his protests with “Tear him for his bad verses!” And as Mark Antony, Maurice Jones turns that deathless “Friends, Romans, countrymen” speech realigning the sympathies of the crowd into an absurdist sales pitch that might’ve cold-opened a Saturday Night (Obviously) Live in 44 B.C. Once those wraiths have shown us their faces, all we can do is laugh."

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- Chris Klimek

MD Theatre Guide - Recommended

"...There are many wonderful moments in this production that bring the old Roman struggle in government to mirror our world today, from the way that the politicians speak to each other and their audiences from their pulpits across stage as if conducting a modern political debate, to the depiction of cult of personality and campaign smearing, and even to how citizens are engaged with and swayed by parties."

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- Heather Hill

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

Like one of the phantoms in Folger Theatre’s production, Julius Caesar revisits us to impart its message time and time again. And while Shakespeare’s tragedy is a familiar experience for some, the performances in this production set it apart–and above–many that have come before.

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- Jennifer Clements

Julius Caesar Photo Gallery

Julius Caesar at Folger Theatre

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar Reviews

Washington Post - Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended

Washington City Paper - Recommended

MD Theatre Guide - Recommended

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

Julius Caesar Photo Gallery

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