It is fair to say that back in March, when I booked to see the RSC's 'Imperium :The Cicero Plays' (based on novels by Robert Harris), and decided that since it is 2 plays, it would make sense to see both on the same day, they had not yet announced the run times. If they had, I am not 100% sure that I would have chosen to see them both on the same day..
Part one runs 3 hours 15 minutes plus intervals, Part 2, 2 hours 45 minutes plus intervals. That's 6 hours of theatre. It's a good thing that the Swan Theatre has reasonably comfortable seats!
The plays cover the period of Roman history around Julius Caesar's (Peter de Jersey) rise to power, his assassination, and Octavian's subsequent rise, as seen through the eyes of Cicero (Richard McCabe) and his secretary, Tiro (Joseph Kloska).
We start out with Cicero's election as Consul, defeating patrician Cataline (Joe Dixon), who is Not Pleased (after all, it was his turn!) Cataline steals every scene he is in, with his gloriously over the top villainy!
As the play continues, we learn about the Cataline conspiracies, as Cataline, having failed to win election to a Consulship, attempts to get there by foul means rather than fair. (of course, an historian might point out that one of the main sources of evidence is the writings of Cicero, who was not exactly impartial, and who made his name by suppressing the Cataline conspiracies. But lets not be picky!)
Cicero's secretary, Tiro, acts as narrator for the plays, bringing the audience up to speed with backstories and explanations, not to mention seeing things more clear-sightedly than his master at times!
Particularly having seen Julius Caesar so recently, I enjoyed seeing the same events and characters from a different perspective - Brutus, in this version, is not the passionate but flawed leader we know from Shakespeare, but rather a rule-bound man, anxiously reviewing points of parliamentary procedure as Rome collapses into civil war.
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| Stage and set |
Julius Caesar is an amoral, manipulative, power-hungry politician, and Mark Antony (Joe Dixon again, Cataline having wound up with his head in a bucket at the end of Part 1) originally appears as a belligerent and none-to-bright drunk, before showing himself as a military force to be reckoned with, and young Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) (Oliver Johnstone) is a much more subtle chip of the old block, who is disastrously underestimated by Cicero (and pretty much everyone else)
The script was fun - lots of direct addresses to the audience, mainly by Tiro, but also by other characters who addressed the audience as if they were the Roman Senate, or people, and of course there were also a few topical allusions, and a sneaky nod to Oscar Wilde "To lose one Consul may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose two..."
I felt, too, that he cast was very strong - although regrettably (if perhaps inevitably, for a play about Politics in ancient Rome) rather short on women.
The performances I saw were the last ones, so you can't go to see it, but if you are like me you might decide to give the books a chance...
On Saturday, I saw The Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre. I've never seen the show before,although I am of course familiar with the song Mack the Knife.
I really enjoyed this production. The theatre's own website promises that it "Contains filthy language and immoral behaviour." and it does.
Rory Kinnear is Captain MacHeath, with Rosalie Craig as Polly Peachum, Peter de Jersey as Police chief 'Tiger' Brown (I kept thinking that he looked familiar, having looked him up when I got home I find he was Cominius in 'Coriolanus' at the Donmar, and Horatio in the David Tennant 'Hamlet', which would explain his familiarity!)
I thoroughly enjoyed the show. The staging is almost cartoonish, with many props labelled - '"drugs", "loud" (on a megaphone) and so forth. My particular favourite was the newspaper with the huge headline "Mack Does Bad Things".
Rory Kinnear is convincingly amoral and scary, and he also has a surprisingly nice signing voice.
And Rosalie Craig (Polly Peachum) was hugely impressive, both musically and and as an actor. As indeed were Jamie Beddard (stealing evey scene he was in) and Nick Holder's aimiable but terrifying Peachum.
Definitely worth seeing. I should like to go back and watch it all over again, if I could.
