Sunday, February 12, 2012

52 in 52 Week 7: Shakespearean Tragedy - Julius Caesar


Cover image for Julius Caesar


"Beware the ides of March."


Did the saying, "It was Greek to me" originate with this play?


I have said it once, and I will say it again: Shakepeare was not meant to be read but experienced dramatically. Since you cannot follow along with a book while you are watching a play, I follow along to a dramatized version. Most of these are unabridged. If they skip anything, I turn it off and read until I get the dramatized version picks up again.


I got this through the Oregon Digital Library, but it is only $3.95 on iTunes! It is part of an educational program put on by LA Theatre Works.  Fantastic!


Richard Dreyfus as Mark Anthony! This is on my 100 Great Books. Shakespeare's tragedies move and stir, but they do not depress. I loved it. Shakespeare took much of this play from Plutarch’s Lives. Since I read Plutarch a few years back, it was fun to get a dramatic rendition of it (although not historically accurate). Brutus is a somewhat sympathetic character in this one, and I am not so sure he was in real life.


The dead center of the drama is the murder of Caesar. The rest of it is the aftermath with the reaction of the different characters. Mark Anthony shines in this part. Brutus makes me sad. 


Amazing, amazing, amazing. 

Cast:
Stacy Keach as Marcus Brutus
John de Lancie as Cassius
Richard Dreyfuss as Marc Antony
Harold Gould as Caesar
Jack Coleman as Casca
JoBeth Williams as Portia
Bonnie Bedelia as Calphurnia
Kelsey Grammer as Murellus
John Randolph as Flavius and Artemidorus
Arye Gross as Octavius
alongside the voices of Paul Winfield, John Vickery, Basil Langton, David Birney, George Murdock, James Morrison, Andrew White, Rudy Hornish, Lee Arenberg, Jon Matthews, Josh Fardon, Paul Mercier, Arthur Hanket and Marnie Mosiman




I found this fantastic study guide for anyone who wants to teach it to their kids or class:

http://www.latw.org/acrobat/julius.pdf

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