Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan (SOTS) is tackling perhaps the most infamous tale of loyalty and betrayal ever to appear onstage in Julius Caesar – but their modern thematic twists struggle to uplift the classic play.
The story of Julius Caesar follows as Julius Caesar himself (or herself, in this case played by Lisa Bayliss) makes a triumphant return to democratic Rome. The people love Caesar so much it seems they want her to be their queen, making some senators (like the crafty Cassius, played by Katie Moore) jealous and others, like Caesar’s dear friend Brutus (Jonathon Pickrell), worried about the safety of Rome and its hard-won democracy. So, a plot to kill the would-be queen is soon hatched – and the aftermath shakes the foundations of Rome itself.
There were a few really stellar performances in Saturday night’s preview. For the second time in this SOTS season, Elizabeth Nepjuk was the standout performer of the show. Nepjuk’s Marc Antony was emotive and passionate as the foil to the more stoic Brutus, and she very quickly felt like the character in this play to root for. It was definitely believable that she won over the crowd with her stirring words at Caesar’s funeral.
And Lisa Bayliss as Caesar herself was strong, delivering lines with a thoughtful gravitas that made me wish the character had more staying power in their own show.
The lighting design was a lot of fun (which feels a strange thing to say about a Shakespearean tragedy). Katie Blackburn-Dust’s lighting utilized every ounce of what the SOTS site had to offer to create rousing effects of lightning storms and ominous spirits in turn.
This is a talented cast, and there were some creative choices that were terribly clever – the dynamic lighting and the gaudy, stylized murder of Caesar herself come to mind – but overall the play just did not click. It felt like a number of the creative and stylistic choices may have been successful in a vacuum, but stitched together led to a disjointed product.
The effectiveness of the modern-day theme, for example, was hit and miss. There was a wide definition of “modern” in the design aesthetic, with props and costumes mostly trading traditional robes and swords of the original time period for suits, coats and rifles that might fit any number of decades post 1950 and made for some visual inconsistencies. And some of the modern thematic decisions felt included without reason: The appearance of a vape pen that sparked chuckles from the audience in a serious scene and far too much reliance on machine gun and fighter jet sound effects in the second act were more distracting than additive.
The show moves at a plodding pace. Granted, the first parts of Julius Caesar are a lot of conspiring to commit a murder versus actual action, but there was a level of intensity that was lacking in that conspiracy. These people were planning to kill one of the heroes of their time, and the weight and passion of that decision did not make itself known enough in anyone’s tone or body language.
While there was certainly more energy in the latter half of the show, and more opportunities to shine for Pickrell’s Brutus and Moore’s Cassius, it was punctuated so often with loud military sound effects that I found myself wanting more and more to just hear the good actors on the stage act, with less added effect.
All told, this felt like a production of missed opportunities. It would have been thrilling to turn the show on its head and fulfill the promise of a more modern populist dictator-like Caesar, really shining a light on Brutus as the tragic hero figure in the story. We just never quite got there – a sentiment that popped up a little too often during the runtime of the play.
The SOTS production of Julius Caesar features a strong cast and some memorable moments. If you go in expecting a stern tale of tragedy, you’ll not be disappointed. There’s just a connective tissue missing that could have taken this production to the next level.
You can find tickets for Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan at shakespearesask.com.
