By Kade Loomis, Staff Writer
A few weeks ago, the school of performing arts put on their fall show, “Julius Caesar.” It ran from the 7th to the 10th, with a show each day and two on Saturday. From an all female cast to how the entire production was framed, it was most definitely a Shakespearean play, but with a few wonderful twists. Dr. Eric Phillips discussed the choices he and Dr. John Forkner made for the show.
“The director, Dr. Forkner, was open to casting the show as gender neutral with a mix of men and women even though the characters are primarily men,” Phillips said. “When we got to the auditions, the majority of students who auditioned were women. And since it’s a show about political power, intrigue and the way different tensions are working underneath, he decided that keeping it all women would make the message more clear.” And thinking through this, it makes sense why they chose to do what they did. If there were even just one man, the show could have taken on a new meaning. If Caesar was a man and everyone else a woman, it might have come across as ‘overcoming the patriarchy,’ or if only Brutus was male, then it could have communicated that ‘a powerful woman is seen as a dangerous woman.’ But, as he said, the message wasn’t about that, and was rather about the politics and the morality of political violence.
Phillips explained why the play was chosen. The theater department does a Shakespeare play every four years, and with so much focus on the political spheres with the election, this one made sense. Especially with the assassination attempts over the summer. But also, it offered a different style of play – a drama. “We originally thought about doing a comedy as a possibility,” Phillips said. “But, since we were doing a comedy already with School House Rock and Hello Dolly being a musical theater drama-comedy, Dr. Forkner started thinking about doing something more dramatic, with history.” In the end, they decided they wanted to leave the audience with questions. “It doesn’t make a statement about our political situation, but it is making a statement about the way humans interact,” Phillips said.
If you enjoyed watching the play, chances are you enjoyed looking at the set, the stage and everything that was used to bring the show to life. From the raised platform across the back to the moving centerpiece that the actors lovingly dubbed “chonk,” every part of the stage is important. Phillips speaks on how the scenery and the driving theme behind the show influenced the set pieces. “A lot of it came from the very specific split into two world,” Phillis said.”We would be starting as a rehearsal, with the rehearsal clothing and scripts, but as the show went on the scripts disappeared, the costumes shifted into the actual show [clothes], and we suspend our disbelief and then we’re in the play. We’re in Rome.” The whole set was designed like this, taking influence from this idea of both present but separate.
The audience was left with questions to ponder. I hope after this article, you’re left with even more to think about and ponder as you wonder, ‘Am I the good guy?’
