Word: brutuses
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Under Michael Kahn's direction, the American Shakespeare Festival has kicked off its 18th season with a production that is unflaggingly handsome and often forceful. It is a vast improvement over the almost rudderless version that the Festival mounted six summers ago, in which only Douglas Watson's Brutus, among the major roles, achieved stature. On the other hand, it is far from matching the extraordinary 1953 film version directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, which remains a good yardstick for the play. (The work has attracted filmmakers a dozen or so times from 1907 to as recently as two years...
...rear, which opens to varying widths to allow the entrance of people or light. Place is indicated by a few pieces of furniture or props--notably a huge suspended silver eagle, symbol of Roman military; and a marvelous sculptured group of three draped and faceless figures, which adorns Brutus's garden...
...Ford Enterprises rolled into the Boston Garden not too long ago and brought back some home-town favorites: the infamous Caruso, the Black Demon, Little Brutus and his midget tag-team,' and of course Bruno Sammartino. While Caruso (left) amused the crowd with his rope-chokes and ring-side histrionics and Manuel Soto, a local darling, summarily stomped the Black Demon (right), everyone waited for the big match between Sammartino and Turo Tanaka, "Professor of Jujitsu...
...Caesar is to be played up, it must of necessity be at the expense of Brutus. Andrew Hilton's Brutus is lost from the start, when he comes onstage in a drab bodystocking which fails to distinguish him from even the three-line walk-ons. He simply lacks the physical stature which Brutus requires to dominate the play. There is nothing wrong with Hilton's approach to the role, but his costuming detracts severely from his credibility. This defect changes the entire emphasis of the play. Normally, Julius Caesar is a drama which builds consistently to Antony's eulogy...
...scenes are elaborately choreographed and acted out tableaux, replete with ritualistic mock blows and falls. Somehow, they work in a way that a literal reading of the script never could. The scene of Caesar's ghost, mocking the actions of the servant as he holds the sword on which Brutus falls is utterly chilling, as no prop-ridden version could be. The inarticulate, death-masked crowd at Caesar's funeral is likewise more effective than a more vocal group...