Did they have him playing a bigger role than his usual single appearance right after the assassination for the mob to tear him apart because they think he's a conspirator?
They combined the roles of Cinna the poet and the Soothsayer, iirc - and if not, I'm thinking of the Soothsayer rather than Cinna the poet, although I'd swear that they did, because I was today years old when I realized that those are different roles - and they started the play by a fake-out in which the actor - appearing for all extents and purposes to be Just Some Guy - hopped up on stage and started reading his own bumbling poetry before "security" went to shoo him off and it turned into the first scene ("Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home!"). So I guess he also got combined with at least one of the commoners...? (This was 10+ years ago and, unfortunately, Julius Caesar did not rewire my brain, so I'm fuzzy on the details.)
But that production (Toronto's Shakespeare in High Park, 2013) ALSO had audience participation, in the form of designated audience members playing the role of the Senate (?) by reading out lines that had been printed out and left on their seats. I guess Julius Caesar just really lends itself to audience involvement??
the thing that really stood out to me as a similarity, where you have Octavian stepping into the limelight in a way that foreshadows the future...
The production I saw ALSO ended this way, by having the last scene play out and then the stage exploded into action with people rushing on to sweep up the debris of the civil war and Octavius, like, being fitted for a fancy suit with assistants hovering around him, etc.
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Date: 2024-12-20 03:26 am (UTC)They combined the roles of Cinna the poet and the Soothsayer, iirc - and if not, I'm thinking of the Soothsayer rather than Cinna the poet, although I'd swear that they did, because I was today years old when I realized that those are different roles - and they started the play by a fake-out in which the actor - appearing for all extents and purposes to be Just Some Guy - hopped up on stage and started reading his own bumbling poetry before "security" went to shoo him off and it turned into the first scene ("Hence! Home, you idle creatures, get you home!"). So I guess he also got combined with at least one of the commoners...? (This was 10+ years ago and, unfortunately, Julius Caesar did not rewire my brain, so I'm fuzzy on the details.)
But that production (Toronto's Shakespeare in High Park, 2013) ALSO had audience participation, in the form of designated audience members playing the role of the Senate (?) by reading out lines that had been printed out and left on their seats. I guess Julius Caesar just really lends itself to audience involvement??
the thing that really stood out to me as a similarity, where you have Octavian stepping into the limelight in a way that foreshadows the future...
The production I saw ALSO ended this way, by having the last scene play out and then the stage exploded into action with people rushing on to sweep up the debris of the civil war and Octavius, like, being fitted for a fancy suit with assistants hovering around him, etc.