Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare Directed by Penny Tuerk
		June 1st - 6th, 2010	The Tower Theatre performing at the Théâtre de Verdure, Jardin Shakespeare in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris

Julius Caesar Michael Mayne	Brutus Ed Malcomson	Cassius Laurence Ward	Mark Antony Gately Freeman
Chorus, playing all the other roles
Metellus Cimber; Octavius Caesar Matthew Addison	Casca Barry Clarke	Portia Simona Hughes	Marullus; Trebonius John Morton
Soothsayer; Lepidus Peter Novis	Lucius; Popilius Lena Pamela O'Brien	Lucilius Ed O'Shaughnessy	Flavius; Artemidorus Richard Pedersen
Calpurnia; Pindarus Harriet Watson	Decius Brutus; Messala Jonathan Wober	Cinna; Titinius Aqil Zahid

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Photography by Lindsay Royan, Michelle Roebuck, Laurence Tuerk and Jonathan Wober

Production Team
Director : Penny Tuerk
Movement : Lindsey Royan
Costume Design : Sheila Burbidge and Celia Reynolds
Lighting and Sound Design : Laurence Tuerk
Subtitles : Penny Tuerk

 
Stage Manager : Alison Liney
Assistant Stage Managers : Margaret Ley, Moira McSperrin
Wardrobe : Jill Batty, Denyse Macpherson, Nigel Martin
Percussion : Peta Barker
Front of House : Jean Carr, Beryl Holyoake, David Holyoake, Jill Gollins, Michelle Roebuck, John Cornwell
Publicity : Jean Carr
Tour Manager : Laurence Tuerk

Dogs of war unleashed in Bois de Boulogne

Online review in paris-update.com by Pierre Tran

Thank Shakespeare for great theater. Can you imagine a world without such lines as "Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the dogs of war", and "For Brutus is an honorable man"?

Without Julius Caesar, our language would be a great deal poorer in imaginative power. Frederick Forsyth, among many other authors (click here for a site listing around 90 book titles taken from the play), must be very grateful.

And where would we be without the drama, which so deftly portrays ambition, political treachery and mob mentality? The psychology of Mark Anthony's funeral speech for Caesar, which turns the hearts and minds of the Roman public around, is simply remarkable. It has to be heard to be believed. Therein lies the power of live theater.

Thanks to the excellent band of players of the Tower Theatre Company of London, audiences were recently able to enjoy the intrigues and rhetoric of ancient Rome at the beautiful Jardin Shakespeare in the Bois de Boulogne's Pré Catelan garden.

Penny Tuerk skillfully directed the 15-strong cast led by Michael Mayne as Caesar, Ed Malcomson as Brutus, Laurence Ward as the lean and hungry Cassius, and an impressive Gately Freeman as the avenger Mark Anthony.

The highly able seconds performed the many roles needed to fill the greensward of that beautiful garden with a cast of thousands, including the notoriously fickle and dangerous Roman mob, the chorus, battling legions, bloody handed conspirators, and a heart-wringing Portia, with Simona Hughes playing the wife of Brutus, Caesar's anguished friend who is just trying to do right by the Republic.

The setting is simply exquisite. For nature lovers (pray, who is not?) the grounds are planted with mature oak, willow, silver birch, beech, lime and even a palm tree. And over the deathless prose declaimed in the open air, the shrill notes of birdsong delight the ears.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the audience included many young children, quite a few of them under 10, and their good behavior was to be marveled at, considering their tender years and the unfamiliar cadences of 17th-century English. All credit to them and to their parents for taking them to sample Shakespeare at an early age.

Tower Theatre, a nonprofit London-based company, has been staging Shakespeare performances in the park in Paris since 1992. The company performs here in the first week of June, so do jot that down in your diary for next year.