I originally
planned on attending Hamlet with
everyone else, but when I forgot about that, I was happy that I still had King Lear That I could go to, but when I
forgot about that I was crying with tears of joy that Dr. Burton had shown us
the Globe Theater plays that we could watch online. If it weren’t for this
safety blanket, I may never have seen a Shakespeare play.
I decided to watch
Julius Caesar, the play that I read
for my individually this semester, because I found it interesting and I thought
that maybe it could me with my paper (which is about Julius Caesar) and show me
different ways to interpret scenes. So, from the comfort of my own home, I was
able to watch this play.
1.
Character/ Performance Analysis-While I did not recognize any of the
actors in the play I did think the casting was very interesting in play. Caesar
was played by an older man, who was tanner then the rest of the characters and
who always moved around slowly. His movements and face gave him a feeling of
royalty. When he was on the stage it was as if you knew he was meant to be the
Emperor of Rome. He spoke slowly and vey clearly as if everything he said was a
speech and dignified. In contrast, the men that played Brutus and Cassius were
much younger and moved around quickly. These made them feel in direct
opposition of Caesar, because everything that he was they weren’t. They also
wore cloaks for much of the play, which gave them a conspirator feel, as if
they were up to no good, which they weren’t. Their speech was much quicker and
more hushed then Caesar’s showing that what they were saying was not for all to
hear and that they were conspiring against Caesar.
2.
Stage- With the globe theater being outside and the play being
done during the day, there really was no lighting to speak of other then
natural light, but this worked to the plays effect because most scenes were
done in the streets of Rome, before the people. So everything seemed a bit more
real. What may have been the most interesting part of the whole play may have
been how the players used the audience to make the play feel more realistic.
Instead of keeping the actors solely on stage, they dispersed many in the
audience, and when they spoke from the audience it made it feel as if the whole
audience were people of Rome, gathering to see Caesar become king, or gathering
to see his assassination. In fact, when the play first started, I didn’t know
if it really was because the scene seemed so realistic as if the whole audience
were shouting for Caesar to start, but in reality, they were all shouting for
Caesar himself. They also used drums a lot to give off a special effect. For
example, when Brutus and the other conspirators approached Caesar to slay him,
the drums were going off making the scene that much more intense.
3.
Interpretation of script- While much of the play was highly
dramatic and intense, there were also many jokes that I didn’t know were jokes
being used. I actually laughed aloud a couple times, which was very interesting
because I never had an inkling to laugh when I read the play. That was probably
the biggest difference I saw. Because
there were actor dispersed throughout the crowd, as if they were really a
crowd, when they would talk it would always be shouting and done
simultaneously, which I thought made it seem a lot more realistic. It also gave
them this feeling of adoration, whether it be for Caesar, Brutus, or Mark
Antony.
Overall, I thought
the play was brilliantly done and it taught me new things about Caesar that I
did not consider before. This analysis also kind of inspires me to go and see
another one of these adaptations of Caesar so I can begin to see the
differences in their interpretation and learn more about this awesome play.
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