Julius Caesar Read online

  1594

  The Comedy of Errors

  1595

  Love’s Labour’s Lost

  1595–97

  Love’s Labour’s Won (a lost play, unless the original title for another comedy)

  1595–96

  A Midsummer Night’s Dream

  1595–96

  The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

  1595–96

  King Richard the Second

  1595–97

  The Life and Death of King John (possibly earlier)

  1595–97

  The Merchant of Venice

  1596–97

  The First Part of Henry the Fourth

  1596–98

  The Second Part of Henry the Fourth

  1598

  Much Ado About Nothing

  1598–99

  The Passionate Pilgrim (20 poems, some not by Shakespeare)

  1599

  The Life of Henry the Fifth

  1599

  “To the Queen” (epilogue for a court performance)

  1599

  As You Like It

  1599

  The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

  1600–01

  The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (perhaps revising an earlier version)

  1600–01

  The Merry Wives of Windsor (perhaps revising version of 1597–99)

  1601

  “Let the Bird of Loudest Lay” (poem, known since 1807 as “The Phoenix and Turtle” [turtledove])

  1601

  Twelfth Night, or What You Will

  1601–02

  The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida

  1604

  The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice

  1604

  Measure for Measure

  1605

  All’s Well That Ends Well

  1605

  The Life of Timon of Athens, with Thomas Middleton

  1605–06

  The Tragedy of King Lear

  1605–08

  ? contribution to The Four Plays in One (lost, except for A Yorkshire Tragedy, mostly by Thomas Middleton)

  1606

  The Tragedy of Macbeth (surviving text has additional scenes by Thomas Middleton)

  1606–07

  The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra

  1608

  The Tragedy of Coriolanus

  1608

  Pericles, Prince of Tyre, with George Wilkins

  1610

  The Tragedy of Cymbeline

  1611

  The Winter’s Tale

  1611

  The Tempest

  1612–13

  Cardenio, with John Fletcher (survives only in later adaptation called Double Falsehood by Lewis Theobald)

  1613

  Henry VIII (All Is True), with John Fletcher

  1613–14

  The Two Noble Kinsmen, with John Fletcher

  THE HISTORY BEHIND THE

  TRAGEDIES: A CHRONOLOGY

  FURTHER READING

  AND VIEWING

  CRITICAL APPROACHES

  Carnegie, David, Julius Caesar. The Shakespeare Handbooks Series (2009). Basic introduction with detailed commentary and discussion of key productions.

  Dean, Leonard F., ed., Twentieth Century Interpretations of Julius Caesar (1968). Useful collection of early authoritative contributions.

  Del Sapio Garbero, Maria, ed., Identity, Otherness and Empire in Shakespeare’s Rome (2009). Ch. 3, “Antony’s Ring: Remediating Ancient Rhetoric on the Elizabethan Stage,” discusses Julius Caesar.

  Hamer, Mary, William Shakespeare: Julius Caesar. Writers and Their Work series (1998). Argues the play is a critique of martial, masculine Roman culture.

  Kahn, Coppélia, Roman Shakespeare: Warrior, Wounds, and Women (1997). Influential feminist reading; ch. 5 is on Julius Caesar, pp. 77–109.

  Miles, Geoffrey, Shakespeare and the Constant Romans (1996). Analyzes Roman Stoicism and Montaigne’s critique of this and the way Shakespeare represents these debates onstage.

  Miola, Robert, Shakespeare’s Rome (1983). Influential study focusing on Shakespeare’s changing conception of Rome and code of military honor; ch. 4 is on Julius Caesar, pp. 76–115.

  Parker, Barbara, Plato’s Republic and Shakespeare’s Rome: A Political Study of the Roman Works (2004). Reads the plays in terms of political decline in Shakespeare’s England; ch. 4 discusses Julius Caesar, pp. 74–91.

  Ronan, Clifford, “Antike Roman”: Power Symbology and the Roman Play in Early Modern England 1585–1635 (1995). Traces the stage history of Roman plays.

  Thomas, Vivian, Shakespeare’s Roman Worlds (1989). Useful on background and sources; detailed discussion of Julius Caesar in ch. 2, pp. 40–92.

  Thomas, Vivian, Julius Caesar. Harvester New Critical Introductions to Shakespeare (1992). Good basic introduction.

  Wilson, Richard, Julius Caesar. Penguin Critical Studies (1992). Concise, sophisticated introduction to the play.

  Wilson, Richard, ed., Julius Caesar. New Casebooks (2002). Scholarly, informed.

  Zander, Horst, ed., Julius Caesar: New Critical Essays (2005). Useful, wideranging collection of recent essays.

  THE PLAY IN PERFORMANCE

  Bevington, David, and Holland, Peter (eds.), Julius Caesar, Shakespeare in Performance Series (2007). Accessible introduction plus text with accompanying CD.

  David, Richard, Shakespeare in the Theatre (1978). Provides analysis of several key productions of the 1970s, which are obviously a little outdated, but the discussion is nonetheless useful as a way of understanding the play.

  Dawson, Anthony B., Watching Shakespeare: A Playgoers’ Guide (1988). Excellent guide for the theatergoer interested in the acting and directorial dilemmas presented by Shakespeare’s plays, with a chapter on Julius Caesar.

  Redgrave, Corin, Julius Caesar, Actors on Shakespeare Series (2002). Perceptive personal account of three productions in which he participated as actor/director.

  Ripley, John, Julius Caesar on Stage in England and America, 1599–1973 (1980). Thorough, detailed, an invaluable resource.

  Smallwood, Robert, ed., Players of Shakespeare 4 (1998). Includes interview with John Nettles on playing Brutus.

  AVAILABLE ON DVD

  Julius Caesar, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1953, DVD 2006). With a star-studded cast and four Oscars: full of interest and works despite different acting styles of James Mason as Brutus, John Gielgud as Cassius, and Marlon Brando as Mark Antony. Black and white.

  Julius Caesar, directed by Herbert Wise for the BBC Shakespeare series (1979, DVD 2005). Well-spoken version with Richard Pasco a decent Brutus, Keith Michell a thrilling Mark Antony, and Charles Gray a self-important Caesar.

  Julius Caesar, directed by Yuli Kulakov with screenplay by Leon Garfield, The Animated Tales (1994, DVD 2007). Excellent cartoon version, voiced by Joss Ackland as Caesar, Hugh Quarshie as Cassius, David Robb as Brutus, and Jim Carter as Mark Antony.

  REFERENCES

  1. E. K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage (1923), Vol. II, p. 365.

  2. Leonard Digges, in a prefatory poem to Shakespeare’s Poems (1640).

  3. Julius Caesar: A Tragedy (c. 1684).

  4. Colley Cibber, quoted in John Ripley, Julius Caesar on Stage in England and America 1599–1793 (1980), p. 20.

  5. Quoted in Ripley, Julius Caesar on Stage, pp. 23–24.

  6. The London Stage, Vol. II, p. 231.

  7. Ripley, Julius Caesar on Stage, p. 26.

  8. Quoted in Ripley, Julius Caesar on Stage, p. 29.

  9. Quoted in David Daniell, ed., Julius Caesar (1998), p. 105.

  10. Ripley, Julius Caesar on Stage, p. 78.

  11. Andrea J. Nouryeh, “Shakespeare and the Japanese Stage,” Foreign Shakespeare (1993), p. 254.

  12. Charles H. Shattuck, Shakespeare on the American Stage (1976), p. 146.

  13. Season (New York), 30 December 1871.

  14. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 26 April 1889.
/>   15. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 26 April 1889.

  16. Quoted in Ralph Berry, “The Imperial Theme,” Shakespeare and the Victorian Stage (1986), p. 155.

  17. Berry, “The Imperial Theme,” p. 156.

  18. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 22 April 1892.

  19. Birmingham Mail, 26 April 1911.

  20. Daily Graphic, 3 May 1916.

  21. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 8 August 1919.

  22. Stratford-upon-Avon Herald, 21 April 1922.

  23. Birmingham Gazette, 20 April 1934.

  24. Birmingham Evening Despatch, 20 April 1934.

  25. Birmingham Evening Despatch, 20 April 1934.

  26. Richard France, ed., Orson Welles on Shakespeare (1990), p. 103.

  27. France, Orson Welles on Shakespeare, p. 106.

  28. Ripley, Julius Caesar on Stage, p. 268.

  29. Daniell, Julius Caesar, p. 112.

  30. Eric Bentley, New Republic, 3 August 1953.

  31. Library Journal, 15 June 1953.

  32. Robert F. Willson Jr., Shakespeare in Hollywood 1929–1956 (2000), p. 148.

  33. The Times (London), 3 May 1950.

  34. Manchester Guardian, 4 May 1950.

  35. Birmingham Post, 4 May 1950.

  36. Birmingham Evening Despatch, 30 May 1957.

  37. Financial Times, 29 May 1957.

  38. Yorkshire Post, 30 May 1957.

  39. Rohan Quince, Shakespeare in South Africa (2000), p. 60.

  40. Wilhelm Hortmann, Shakespeare on the German Stage: The Twentieth Century (1998), p. 207.

  41. John Pettigrew and Jamie Portman, Stratford: The First Thirty Years (1985), Vol. II, p. 148.

  42. Pettigrew and Portman, Stratford: The First Thirty Years, p. 253.

  43. Birmingham Post, 23 March 1977.

  44. Daily Telegraph, 24 March 1977.

  45. Guardian, 24 March 1977.

  46. Susan Willis, The BBC Shakespeare Plays (1991), pp. 197–98.

  47. Guardian, 29 May 1999.

  48. Telegraph, 28 May 1999.

  49. Independent, 28 May 1999.

  50. Observer, 24 April 2005.

  51. Independent, 22 April 2005.

  52. Sunday Telegraph, 24 April 2005.

  53. Roger Warren, Julius Caesar, RSC program note, 2001.

  54. Tom Matheson, “Royal Caesar,” in Julius Caesar: New Critical Essays, ed. Horst Zander (2004).

  55. Fran Thompson, “Designing Caesar,” in Julius Caesar, RSC Education Pack (1993).

  56. Ian Hogg in interview with Diane Parkes, Evening Mail, 6 July 2001.

  57. Anthony B. Dawson, Watching Shakespeare: A Playgoers’ Guide (1988).

  58. Ripley, Julius Caesar on Stage.

  59. Matheson, “Royal Caesar.”

  60. T. C. Worsley, Financial Times, 10 April 1963.

  61. Malcolm Rutherford, Spectator, 19 April 1963.

  62. Sandra L. Williamson, ed., Shakespearean Criticism, Vol. 17, 1992.

  63. A quote from Labour Party leader Michael Foot condoning political murder made for a minor controversy in The Times.

  64. Roger Warren, Shakespeare Quarterly, Winter 1983.

  65. Williamson, Shakespearean Criticism.

  66. Better known as Triumph of the Will, this film by Leni Riefenstahl was a monumental piece of filmmaking and a prime example of the power of propaganda. A hypnotic account of the massive 1934 Nazi party rally in Nuremberg, it glorified Nazi pageantry and deified Adolf Hitler. It also earned her a place in film history and the status of a postwar pariah.

  67. A play by Bertolt Brecht inspired by the German invasion of Poland, but set during the Thirty Years War in the late seventeenth century; stagings are invariably of a bleak, inhospitable, war-torn world.

  68. Martin Dodsworth, Times Literary Supplement, 15 April 1983.

  69. Dominique Goy-Blanquet, Times Literary Supplement, 17 April 1987.

  70. He was Hitler’s chief architect in Nazi Germany and in 1942 became the minister of armaments in Hitler’s cabinet.

  71. John Peter, Sunday Times, 12 April 1987.

  72. Fran Thompson, “Designing Caesar,” Julius Caesar, RSC Education Pack (1993).

  73. Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times, 7 August 1993.

  74. David Thacker in interview with Sarah Hemming, Independent, 27 July 1993.

  75. Thompson, “Designing Caesar.”

  76. Benedict Nightingale, The Times (London), 7 July 1993.

  77. Benedict Nightingale, The Times (London), 22 October 2004.

  78. Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph, 22 October 2004.

  79. Michael Billington, Guardian, 22 October 2004.

  80. Dawson, Watching Shakespeare.

  81. “Caesar, thou art revenged, / Even with the sword that killed thee” (5.3.46–47); “O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet, / Thy spirit walks abroad” (5.3.99–100); “Caesar, now be still: / I killed not thee with half so good a will” (5.5.55–56).

  82. J. C. Trewin, Illustrated London News, 13 April 1968.

  83. Benedict Nightingale, New Statesman, 12 May 1972.

  84. Williamson, Shakespearean Criticism.

  85. Richard David, Shakespeare in the Theatre (1978).

  86. Michael Billington, Guardian, 13 May 1972.

  87. J. M. Maguin, Cahiers Elisabethains, No. 32, October 1987.

  88. James Rigney, “Stage Worlds of Julius Caesar,” in Julius Caesar: New Critical Essays, ed. Horst Zander (2004).

  89. Ian Hogg in interview with Diane Parkes, Evening Mail, 6 July 2001.

  90. Terry Hands, who directed Julius Caesar in 1987, in interview with Clare Colvin, Drama, No. 164, 1987.

  91. Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 1 November 1991.

  92. Michael Coveney, Observer, 3 November 1991.

  93. Mike Paterson, “Julius Caesar,” in Shakespeare in Performance, ed. Keith Parsons and Pamela Mason (1995).

  94. Matheson, “Royal Caesar.”

  95. Michael Billington, Guardian, 7 July 1995.

  96. A mighty female warrior, one of the Valkyries, and a heroine from the German epics, especially in the Nibelungen saga, in which she is an Icelandic princess.

  97. Matheson, “Royal Caesar.”

  98. Peter Roberts, Plays and Players, June 1968.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND

  PICTURE CREDITS

  Preparation of “Julius Caesar in Performance” was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

  Thanks as always to our indefatigable and eagle-eyed copy editor Tracey Day and to Ray Addicott for overseeing the production process with rigor and calmness.

  Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.

  Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company’s official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.

  For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.

  1. Directed by Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1898). Reproduced by permission of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  2. Directed by Glen Byam Shaw (1957). Angus McBean © Royal Shakespeare Company

  3. Directed by Terry Hands (1987). Joe Cocks Studio Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  4. Directed by David Thacker (1993). Malcolm Davies © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

  5. Directed by Trevor Nunn (1972). Reg Wilson © Royal Shakespeare Company

  6. Directed by Edward Hall (2001). Manuel Harlan © Royal Shakespeare Company

  7. Directed by David Farr (2004). Manuel Harlan © Royal Shakespeare Company

  8. Directed by Lucy Bailey (2009). El
lie Kurttz © Royal Shakespeare Company

  9. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse © Charcoalblue

  THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD

  Maya Angelou

  •

  A. S. Byatt

  •

  Caleb Carr

  •

  Christopher Cerf

  •

  Harold Evans

  •

  Charles Frazier

  •

  Vartan Gregorian

  •

  Jessica Hagedorn

  •

  Richard Howard

  •

  Charles Johnson

  •

  Jon Krakauer

  •

  Edmund Morris

  •

  Azar Nafisi

  •

  Joyce Carol Oates

  •

  Elaine Pagels

  •

  John Richardson

  •

  Salman Rushdie

  •

  Oliver Sacks

  •

  Carolyn See

  •

  Gore Vidal

  1.1 Location: a public place in Rome

  1 Hence! Get away!

  3 mechanical working men, artisans

  3 walk be out and about

  4 sign i.e. clothing, tools

  7 rule measuring stick (plays on the sense of “decorum, discipline”)

  10 in respect of compared with

  10 fine workman skilled craftsman

  10 but merely

  11 cobbler shoe mender/one who mends clumsily

  12 directly plainly/immediately

  14 soles puns on “souls”

  15 naughty wicked

  16 be not out do not be angry/do not have holes in your shoes

  17 mend you repair your shoes/improve your temper

  20 cobble fix; plays on the sense of “have sex with”

  21 awl shoe-mending tool used to prick leather/penis

  21 meddle get involved/have sex

  22 tradesman’s matters professional issues/sex/prostitution

  22 women’s matters the concerns of women/sex or perhaps “vaginas”

  23 withal nevertheless (puns on with all/awl)

  23 shoes plays on sense of “vaginas”

  24 recover patch/restore to health (may play on sense of “cover with my body during sex”)

  24 proper fine/handsome