Caption: Casesar played by Vivienne Maya, stands center in the midst of the conspirators in an all-female production of Julius Caesar, which will be comng Saturday to the Stratford Library.
Text of Article:
All-Female Cast Takes on 'Caesar'
By Keila Torres
Julius Caesar was called a lot of things in his day: consul, general...dictator;
But he undoubtedly was not called, "Miss."
But that may be the appropriate honorific for the famed Roman political and military figure as portrayed in a production of Shakespeare's play dramatizing Caesar's fall. which will be performed in town this weekend.
In this Julius Caesar, Caesar and the rest of the scheming senators who orchestrated his assassination-all males in the play-will be portrayed by women in the Hudson Shakespeare Company from New Jersey.
The all-female cast will perform the Bard's classic 2pm Saturday at the Stratford Library, 2203 Main Street.
The audience can expect a jeweled, tunic-clad Caesar and female friends wearing knee-high boots, including Brutus and Mark Antony.
The two-hour outdoor production is one of the troupe's last stops-and the only one in the state-on a month long tour mostly through New Jersey and New York.
Jon Ciccarelli, director of HSC, had considered staging a single-gender production for some time.
"Julius Caesar seemed to lend itself pretty easily. The characters seem pretty androgynous. There is no romantic involvement," he said.
The producers chose an all-femal cast because "women are more blood thirsty when it comes to swordfighting and perform fight scenes in Shakespearean productions," he explained.
The gender change does not affect the Roman story line, he said. because the company tries to establish a timeframe all its own. "Its a nod to a female-centric world," he said, adding-hence jeans and tuncis-as well as weapons.
"They are all reacting within their own world. There is no kind of awkwardness," he said.
The names of the play's characters will not be feminized and pronouns will not be changed because "we ran into problems in terms of the poetry," he said.
"If a name had been changed", he said, "You might change the number of syllables for a line." making it sound awkward.
The free production will be performed in the amphitheater at the rear of the library. Attendees are invited to bring lawn chairs or a blanket. The show will be moved indoors to the Lovell Room in case of rain.
