Julius Caesar

By William Shakespeare
Directed by John Sipes

[read the interview with John Sipes]

August 1-30, 2009. Performed in the outdoor Festival Glen.

“The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins remorse from power.”  – Brutus, Julius Caesar, Act II

Production Co-Sponsors
Jon and Jill Winston
Westcliff Foundation

Julius Caesar is a stark political drama, notable for its direct and powerful language and minimal use of poetic metaphor or linguistic complexities. It is a time of political wrangling, jockeying for power, and nation building.  We are treated to rich oratory and cunning rhetoric, as well as being let in on the backroom shady dealings of political powerbrokers.  Lines are blurred between fighting for the public good and fighting for personal interest.  Shakespeare, as no one else can, vividly explores how a nation’s fate is dependent on the vagaries of human will.

Director 's Notes:

"The parallels between the political dynamics of ancient Rome dramatized in Shakespeare’s play and the recent challenges to our society’s social and political welfare are stunningly obvious. Democracy is always at risk if too much power is consolidated in one man. The Roman senators in Julius Caesar knew that and, in our day, we have learned a similar lesson.

Our production will strive to embody the beauty of the text and the savagery of the situations in ways that are immediate, striking and engaging for the audience of our time."

Director Sponsors (John Sipes)
Madeleine and Stephen Fackler      

Performance Sponsors