.
WITH SINCERE THANKS TO:
The University of Sydney Union
Sydney University Drama Society (est. 1889)
The 2013 SUDS Executive
The Cast and Crew of Tribes
The Cast and Crew of August: Osage County
The Jones Family & Snap Printing
The O’Grady Family
Everybody’s Mums and Dads
Brenden Hooke
Caffeine
SUDS WHAT’S ON:
Tribes: Slot 1, Week 2, 13-16th March
August: Osage County: Slot 2, 20-23rd March
General Meeting No.2: Wednesday 20th March
SUDS Welcome to Semester Party: Monday 8th April
USU Performing Arts Ball: Friday 24th May
Auditions:
2013 SUDS Major - The Threepenny Opera: 11-14 March
SUDS Slot 3 - Tarot: 4-15 March
(Check the SUDS Facebook page for more audition info)
FIND and CONTACT SUDS AT:
Online: SUDSusyd.wordpress.com
On Twitter: @SUDSusyd
On Facebook: facebook.com/SUDSusyd
Via Email: [email protected]
William Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar
The Cellar Theatre
The University of Sydney
Science Road
6 - 9 March 7:30pm
Doors Open 7pm
$2/3/5
Mothers shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quartered with the hands of war
CREW
-
-
Director Producer Lighting Design &
Technician, & Dramaturg
Composer Sound Design Sound Technician
Costume &
Makeup Design Properties Master Graphic Design
Nathaniel Pemberton
Hal Conyngham
-
-
-
-
Ethan McKenzie
Reuben Stone
Eunice Huang
Ryan Hunter
-
-
-
Zerrin Craig-Adams Luke Derrick
Andrew Watt &
Victoria Baldwin
“Now entertain conjecture of a time
When creeping murmur and the poring dark
Fills the wide vessel of the universe.
From camp to camp through the foul womb of night
The hum of either army stilly sounds,
That the fixed sentinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other's watch:
Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other's umber'd face;
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear, and from the tents
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation...”
(Chorus: Act IV, Henry V)
“...What is in that word, ‘honour’? What is that ‘honour’? Air.”
(Sir John Falstaff, V.i., Henry IV Part 1)
SYNOPSIS
I.i - The Streets of Rome: A crowd waits in anticipation of Caesar’s return. Two Roman
Senators chastise them for their fickleness and hypocrisy.
I.ii - The Streets of Rome: Caesar returns triumphant from civil war. After receiving an
unsettling message, he dismisses the Soothsayer and exits to watch Antony run in the
ceremonial race. Cassius and Brutus remain and discuss Caesar’s growing stature. Returning,
Caesar explains to Antony his mistrust of Cassius, before Casca relays to Brutus and Cassius
that Caesar was thrice offered a crown by Antony.
I.iii - The Streets of Rome: A great storm has descended upon the Capitol. While Casca
is frighted by these conditions, Cassius interprets them as supportive messages from the gods
encouraging him in his “honourable-dangerous” conspiracy.
II.i - Brutus’ Garden: After contemplating the conspiracy against Caesar, Brutus resolves
to kill the “tyrant”. The conspirators join him and make their final preparations. Portia
enters and demands to hear “the secrets” affecting her husband’s heart. Brutus relents, finally
agreeing to disclose his troubles.
II.ii - Caesar’s Garden: Having grown superstitious, Caesar bows to Calpurnia’s
insistence that he stay at home. However, Cinna, a conspirator, enters and convinces Caesar
that he should instead depart for the Roman Senate
II.iii - A Street Outside Brutus’ House: Portia - deeply fearful of what may befall the
conspirators - is further disturbed by the obtuse and mysterious Soothsayer.
III.i - The Roman Senate: The conspirators assassinate Caesar on the Ides of March.
Antony arrives and begs for his own death by the corpse of Caesar. Instead, he is spared and
permitted to speak in honour of Caesar, after Brutus’ own speech. With the departure of the
conspirators, Antony prophesies the impending war.
III.ii - The Roman Forum: Brutus convinces the mob of Caesar’s ambition before
yielding for Antony to speak. In an articulate and emotional appeal, Antony challenges the
mob to reconsider the conspirators’ actions, and incites them to mutiny.
INTERVAL
IV.i - Rome: The new Triumvirate, consisting of Senators Lepidus, Antony and Caesar’s
heir, Octavius Caesar, prepare an extensive list of those to be executed. With Lepidus sent
away, Antony attempts to consolidate power in himself and Octavius.
IV.ii - Brutus’ Camp: Wearied by anticipation of battle, hostility has emerged between
Cassius and Brutus. With ill-feelings resolved, Portia’s death is revealed. Burying their
unkindness in bowls of wine, Brutus and Cassius turn their attentions to matters of war.
Brutus retires for the night, only to be visited by the Ghost of Caesar; promising his ominous
return, to Brutus, at Philippi.
V.i-v - The Plains of Philippi: Cassius, Brutus, Octavius and Antony exchange verbal
barbs. Afterwards, Brutus’ legions successfully overcome the forces of Octavius, while
Cassius’ powers succumb to Antony. Mistakenly believing Titinius killed, Cassius orders his
own death. Finding Cassius’ body, and with the battle seemingly lost, Brutus stoically resolves
to “try fortune in a second fight”. With the battle finally lost, Brutus bids his charges before
asking for his death at the hand of his loyal attendant Lucius.
Travis Ash Hal Conyngham Zerrin Craig-Adams Luke Derrick
Ian Ferrington
Cassandra Jones Charlie Jones Finn Keogh
Amie McNee
Sean O’Grady
Michaela Savina Hannah Sinclair Nick Welsh
Caitlin West
CAST
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Portia (Wife of Brutus)
& Soldier in the Army of
Octavius & Antony
Servant (to Caesar, Antony
& Octavius)
& Cato
Lucius (Attendant to Brutus)
& First Roman Citizen
Trebonius
& Titinius
Calpurnia (Wife of Caesar)
& Soldier in the Army of
Octavius and Antony
Marcus Brutus
Casca & Pindarus (Attendant to
Cassius)
A Soothsayer
Cicero
& Second Roman Citizen
& Octavius Caesar
Metellus Cimber
& Messala
Marc Antony
Julius Caesar
Cinna
& Volumnius
Caius Cassius
Shakespeare wrote something for everyone and for every experience. He even
wrote something in the way of a Director’s note:
“...Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide one man...
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.”
(Chorus: Prologue, Henry V)
We all - to varying degrees - know Shakespeare. We have always been
told that he is the greatest dramatist and wordsmith the English language has
ever produced, and, so, we take this as fact. Today we accept this status, often
without truly appreciating how or why it was earned. In fact, for many, a
distaste for Shakespeare was nurtured in dull high school classrooms, and in
poorly conceived, incomprehensible amateur or professional productions; we
regularly wish to diminish or dismiss his work. It is therefore refreshing invigorating even - to be struck by a mere instance of Shakespeare’s true genius.
A moment, perhaps, of simple and universally relatable humanity that shatters
our dull and habituated ‘appreciation’. My only hope is that these moments
have been brought to life and done justice in our production.
Julius Caesar is Shakespeare’s bridge play; written in 1599 at a point of
transition and experimentation between the early forays into tragedy and
history, and the later, mature explorations of poetry and the human condition.
To provide context, Shakespeare was in the process of writing Julius Caesar,
and Hamlet, simultaneously.
Brutus: “...He would be crowned.
How that might change his nature, there’s the question”
Hamlet: “To be or not to be, that is the question”
Despite its central events, the play is not simply about the political and
moral dilemma posed by the rise of Caesar; its political context is merely a
framing device. No matter how carefully we explore this dilemma - to kill or not
to kill a potential tyrant - a balanced assessment of Shakespeare’s text can never
yield to us a definitive moral answer. Eschewing prescription, as he does in all
his plays, Shakespeare embraces reality’s complexity. Julius Caesar is, at the core
of our production, an exploration of the deeply personal moral reasoning and
moral persuasions that guide the moral decisions made by all of us. It is impossible
to condemn (or to praise) thoroughly the actions or beliefs of any of the play’s
characters. And it is this that makes the play at once frustrating and satisfying to us,
and, we hope, to our audience.
The play’s anticlimactic final act is of course a product of its very nature as
a history play. It is far from a fully constructed work of fiction, and, in fact,
Shakespeare borrowed extensively (at times word for word) from the account passed
down to the Elizabethans from Plutarch’s writings; a history with which the 1599
audience would have been generally familiar (Shakespeare, was ever the Elizabethan
populist). Nevertheless, the last act can be seen as the conclusion to a chain of events
from which it was impossible for the play’s protagonists to ever escape. A conclusion
that was not ‘fated’, but was nonetheless directly caused by their earlier, fallible
calculations.
Today, this historical tragedy comes to us as an audience influenced by
three time periods: the Roman context in which it is set; the Elizabethan context in
which it is written, and by which it is heavily influenced; and our own modern
period. The humanity and poetry, held within Shakespeare’s text, endure in spite of
the interplay between these eras. The timelessness of his work means that, 397 years
after his death, Shakespeare stands still as our contemporary. It is therefore in order
to explore the enduring qualities of the text, to attest to its author’s genius, and to
tell anew a story and a history with which we are now so familiar, that females play
the parts of Caesar, Brutus, Cassius and Antony in this production.
As written, a mere 4.8% of Julius Caesar is spoken by female characters.
Indeed, only three other Shakespearean plays have a percentage lower than this. In
spite of such statistics, I do not feel the patriarchal nature of the Roman context
bears any great significance to the narrative, poetry or themes at the heart of the
play. In having females play these four parts in our production, we hope to
emphasise how these ideas span - not only the distances of time - but the roles and
experiences of genders. Hamlet is wrong in saying, “Frailty, thy name is woman”.
Frailty is the affliction of us all.
Finally, thank you to my cast and crew. Throughout this process I have
always been acutely aware of the demands I placed upon you. I cannot thank you
enough for your generosity of time, energy and spirit. I believe we will not look back
on this experience - this opportunity - and feel any sense of regret. More important
than what happens on the stage over these four nights in March, is what happened
throughout these four months of our lives. It has always been a challenge, but thank
you for giving me the chance to work, play and laugh with you all throughout this
adventure. I am eternally grateful to each and every one of you.
Nathaniel Pemberton