Apologies + OSF Review: Julius Caesar

Two weeks. Wow. I think that's a new record for me.

I apologize for such the delay in blogging. The last two weekends have been someone pressing for time with midterms to study, cats to train, and costume sketches needing to be finished (four days without sleep can be a damaging thing to the body...). The next few weeks aren't looking to lighten up either as the show is moving into its tech rehearsals and most of that will consume my time. That and I have given in by applying back to my old job (Wendy's). At this point, it is the easiest option to earn money over the summer.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

For those of you who may not know, Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's political/historical plays about rise to power, corruption in an orderly system and honor to one self. It tells the tale of Brutus, a friend of the war hero Caesar among others, and his conflicts of Caesar as an acquaintance and his role as a leader. While other political figures seem to be okay with killing off the tyrant and gaining back their freedom, Brutus feels conflicted if not dishonored by such a horrid, backstabbing deed.
Also, keep in mind the traditional setting for this play is set in Rome.

NOW.
OSF decided to take a different route with this production, making it at modern as possible, minimal as possible, and as last-minute as possible. The stage is essentially stripped to its bare minimums (to the point where you can see what their Black Box looks like without any fancy scenery), lighting makes no sense, and costumes are all over the place with a mixture of steampunk and post-apocalyptic drags.
The only thing that seemed to keep up anybody's attention was the acting. Some actors were intense and successfully showed a progressive change in character (whether for poor intentions or honorable ones), deaths of some figures were hauntingly beautiful, and it was a treat to see the actors so casual at the top of the show and then immediately drag audience members back into the scenario of the world.

But the most important feature, I believe, was the casting of Julius Caesar as a woman. Granted, the role could have been taken to an extreme feminist, but the actress did not choose to take that step. She treated the role as a gender-neutral role, neither condoning or praising one sex or the other. She was simply known as Caesar, and that was good enough for her. I believe OSF wanted to shift the play being about Brutus towards Caesar's favor and they did it brilliantly by having her linger around for the second act as a ghost, spectating the world around her and the people who fight either in her name or against it.
Regardless, her name and reputation still lingered even after her death. She IS Caesar, after all.

Anyway, so if you want to see it because it's a classic, I certainly won't stop you, but it wasn't one of my personal favorites.

So I hope y'all have a good weekend ahead of you and I will hopefully update by next week! Later~