 |  |  | | Caesar (Johniie Lee Davenport) | Brutus (Dan McCleary) | Cassius (Steve Patterson) |
Julius Caesar
By William Shakespeare
April 12 to May 7, 2006Examining the delicate balance between liberty and government order, this classic tragedy is perhaps the greatest political play in all of world literature. Brutus and Cassius support Caesar during his rise to power, but fear he may declare himself both god and king, tossing them aside and destroying hundreds of years of democracy. Friendship turns to betrayal, murder and ultimately war! or call the Box Office
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The cast of Julius Caesar
The Cast:
Julius Caesar - Johnny Lee Davenport*
Mark Antony - David Hardie*
Publius - John Wayne Shafer*
Brutus - Dan McCleary*
Cassius - Steven Patterson*
Casca - Jim Ireland*
Trebonius - Timothy Williams*
Caius Ligarius - Clement Valentine
Decius Brutus - Eric Zivot
Metellus Cimber - Dan Graul
Cinna - Brett Mack
Flavius - Donte Bonner
Murellus - Timothy Williams*
Artemidorus - Donte Bonner
Soothsayer - Nicole Victoria Reinsel
Cinna (the poet) - Brett Mack
Lucius - Edward Lynn Davis II
Calphurnia - Be Boyd*
Portia - Sarah Hankins*
Carpenter - Clement Valentine
Cobbler - Christopher Lee Gibson
Senators - Christopher Lee Gibson, Chris Lindsay
Plebians - Donte Bonner, Edward Lynn Davis II, Christopher Lee Gibson, Michael Gill, Dan Graul, Chris Lindsay, Brett Mack, Nicole Victoria Reinsel, John Wayne Shafer*, Clement Valentine, and Eric Zivot*
Soldiers - Michael Gill, Chris Lindsay, Clement Valentine
Caesar's Servants - Christopher Lee Gibson, Michael Gill, Chris Lindsay
Antony's Servant - Michael Gill
* Courtesy of Actor's Equity Association
The cast of Julius Caesar
A powerful sword still cuts sharply. The Shakespeare Festival production of 'Julius Caesar' wields its lessons in the fray of a modern world.The Orlando Sentinel
Review by Elizabeth Maupin
Posted April 17, 2006  Trebonius (Tim Williams), Brutus (Dan McCleary),
Cassius (Steve Patterson) and Decius Brutus (Eric Zivot)
Brutus seems like the last guy who would have done it.
He's a mild-mannered man, a rational man, the kind of man who shrinks from raising his voice. In the hands of actor Dan McCleary, he's a paragon -- and that's why, when he steps in to stab Julius Caesar, you recoil as if you had done the deed yourself.
The Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival's newest Julius Caesar has that effect. These men may have names such as Casca and Trebonius, but they seem entirely modern, with all the worries, faults and foibles that people have today. This particular play is charged with enough meaning that maybe the modern trappings aren't always necessary. But when a man such as Brutus commits the deeds he does, the effect is like a punch to the gut.
In Julius Caesar, director Dennis Lee Delaney has made the Romans of the first century B.C. altogether familiar, from the high-handed political leader to the stupid, suggestible mob. This tragedy may be one of the easiest of Shakespeare's plays for the uninitiated to understand: In the Shakespeare Festival's version, it also strikes close to home.
The sky runs red over the amphitheater at Lake Eola Park, where the festival is ensconced for its annual outdoor run. Designer Eric T. Haugen's creepy lighting paints a storm-tossed world, and Bob Phillips's abstract set suggests at times an imperial interior, at other times the skyline of a great city.
 Brutus (Dan McCleary), and (Tim Williams), Trebonius
It's a modern city, clearly: These Romans dress in natty suits, with only draped sashes over their shoulders (Jack Smith did the costumes) to show their importance. The sounds of machine guns and missiles interrupt the night, and a metal detector stands guard to keep knives out of the senate chambers. (Only that last touch is a distraction: It sent the noisy young women behind us into a fit of giggles, which only grew worse when the blood started flowing.)
In that Rome Brutus watches as his friends and colleagues brood over Caesar's raging ambition. And there Brutus, seduced by the single-minded Cassius, tries to reason his way into the murder -- to kill Caesar "boldly, but not wrathfully," to be remembered as "purgers, not murderers."
You're not apt to be able to distinguish every one of Caesar's murderers or every member of the unsavory hordes who switch sides in this drama whenever you blink. But Delaney's large cast, blessed with fine actors in very small roles, makes surprising inroads. Jim Ireland's drunken Casca stands out from the crowd of conspirators, as does Eric Zivot's mournful-faced Decius. Sarah Hankins and Be Boyd are fierce in the roles of Portia, Brutus' wife, and Calphurnia, wife to Caesar -- women who should be heeded and are not.
And Edward Lynn Davis II brings tenderness (and a sweet singing voice) to the devoted Lucius, Brutus's friend and servant, who agrees almost gently to Brutus's final request.
As Caesar, Johnny Lee Davenport projects the power of a man who thinks he has earned every bit of it: He's a lion of a man who no longer has to listen to what anybody else has to say. Steven Patterson makes Cassius a hard-bitten military man, with his keen mind always racing, and David Hardie's Mark Antony is both wily and passionate. When this Antony speaks -- "Cry 'havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war" or the even more famous "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" -- the hairs on the back of your neck are likely to stand on end.
Still, McCleary's Brutus stands apart from all of those -- a quiet man in eyeglasses, sweet-tempered but, as he says, "with himself at war." If the mob in this production is a frightening thing, mindless, violent and quick to anger, this introspective Brutus is its antithesis.
Director Delaney and his cohorts have filled their Julius Caesar with violence and brutality, with ominous spectacle (note the forest of black umbrellas) and fiery skies. But all the horror and all of Antony's handsome speechifying do not take away from what McCleary makes of this production -- a recounting of a story that is indescribably sad.
The "conspirators" of Julius Caesar
Orlando Shakespeare's Caesar: intense, passionate, and even a little gory...Talkinbroadway.com
By Matthew MacDermid
Every once in a while it's fun to revisit high school English class. And hopefully, area tenth grade teachers were smart enough to organize bus loads of students to the Orlando Shakespeare Festival's splendid production of Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar, which plays at Lake Eola's amphitheatre through May 7th. This production of the classic is a completely accessible, breathtakingly staged production featuring some mesmerizing acting, sensational scenery, and when it finally gets dark enough, a sublime lighting design. Once again, OSF has taken the basics of Shakespeare's penmanship and enhanced it to a fully realized production that the Bard would surely be proud to see.  The cast of Julius Caesa
And, as can be expected by OSF, we're not seeing Caesar as our Elizabethan ancestors did. This slick, modern presentation, as deftly directed by Dennis Lee Delaney, and designed by Bob Phillips (set), Eric Haugen (lights), Matthew Given and Delaney (Sound), and Jack Smith (costumes), is a Caesar for a modern audience--and the lessons that the play teaches are as relevant today as ever, with a contemporary feel giving the audience complete accessibility to Shakespeare while also being able to connect his tale to our world's own current events. The play drips of politics, greed, betrayal, and murder--and it is certainly better acted than any action movie you could see in theatres on a Saturday night.
The usual uniformity of excellence amongst OSF's cast is fully evident in this production, with a group of distinguished performers claiming supporting roles. Jim Ireland's drunken Casca is the true standout of the supporting conspirators, with Eric Zivot's Decius Brutus a close second. Caesar, as played by Johnny Lee Davenport, is a booming presence, both in voice and stature--however, his presentation of the verse occasionally borders on overpronounced--and in the famous scene between he and his wife, Calphurnia, Davenport seems to be in a fight for attention with the terrific Be Boyd. She wins. Sarah Hankins provides a convincing and passionate Portia, and Nicole Victoria Reinsel is excellent as the creepy Soothsayer. David Hardie is marvelous as Caesar's friend, Mark Antony, providing a delicious portrayal that ends the first act tightly and begins the second confidently. And it should be stated that any production that requires Timothy Williams to play a supporting role must have some true confidence in the ability of its leading players.
In this case, rightfully so. As the principal conspirators, Brutus and Cassius, Dan McCleary and Steven Patterson are incredible. McCleary brings a sense of sorrow and sweet-temperedness to a man who commits a terrible act. His Brutus is truly sympathetic in all cases, and in an emotional second act scene with Patterson's Cassius, brings more depth and nuance to the character than a great number of other actors possibly could have. Patterson gives a tour de force portrayal, a tough-as-nails military man whose mind always seems to be racing with thoughts of war. A riveting pair of actors, providing performances Orlando audiences will remember for years to come.
Bob Phillips' unit set is as visually appealing as it is a wonderful stomping ground for Delaney's actors, and Jack Smith's costumes add a war-time feel that brings forth a terrific sense of the director's concept. But then there's Eric Haugen's lighting, which is beautiful and most of the time--and that's only because a 7 PM curtain and daylight savings robs this designer of the opportunity to showcase his work on the entire production.
Still, this is a Julius Caesar to remember--and thanks to Orlando Shakespeare Festival, it will be remembered for a long time.
Cassius (Steve Patterson)
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