#leniparker

On Thursday, July 28, 2016, I had the good fortune to take in Repercussion Theatre’s Julius Caesar, which has been touring various outdoor venues in Montreal this summer. Always happy to celebrate summer by feasting upon a production of Shakespeare in the great outdoors, I have been more excited than usual to see this particular play, due to artistic director Amanda Kellock’s casting decision to have all roles played by women. That’s right. Shakespeare played entirely by women.  Upon arrival at Pine Beach Park in Dorval, I am greeted by Marjolaine Provencal’s set of scaffolding and towers that is at once industrial and evocative of the pastoral setting in which we find ourselves. The copper-coloured towers recall both ancient trunks of giant redwoods and decaying ruins of a once-thriving civilization. The highest scaffold holds a multitude of cymbals, shells and drums, played throughout the show to highlight the swelling tensions of the political plots being hatched below. It doesn’t hurt that they also look damn pretty as they catch the setting sun and throw golden light every which way while Rome bemoans the death of its beloved leader.  At its heart, Julius Caesar is the story of the death of a leader and the birth of a politician. The birth of that politician, namely Marc Anthony, is an absolute joy to witness in this production. While Leni Parker as Caesar is regal, warm and completely believable as a human being that one would pledge allegiance to, it is Gitanjali Jain’s performance as Mark Antony that steals the show. Starting tentatively, even haltingly, Jain’s Antony is but a boy when we first see him – easy to miss amongst the many other characters – and were one not familiar with the script, one would be forgiven for believing that her character would not amount to much even in the scene in which Antony stumbles upon Caesar’s corpse. Jain delivers the opening lines of the infamous “Friends, Romans, Countrymen” speech with less bravado and more uncertainty than this reviewer is accustomed to hearing, but it is with good reason. For it all builds, slowly, succinctly and certainly, so that by the time Jain is repeating, “Brutus is an honourable man,” Mark Antony is utterly transformed. A boy no longer, we see a man standing before us. And when, at the end of that speech, he reveals Caesar’s will and riles the crowd to vengeance, the politician has been born. Truly, an inspired and nuanced performance.  I would also be remiss not to mention Deena Aziz’s heartbreakingly human Brutus. Aziz breathes life into the often glossed-over loss of Portia (played powerfully by Holly Gauthier-Frankel), and allows that loss to inform Brutus’ actions in the second half of the play. Equally haunted by the loss of Caesar, Aziz’s Brutus is one of the most haunted, heartfelt portrayals of this character that I have seen, and lends credibility to the old adage to make your villains human for then your play will be more successful. Without a doubt, watching Repercussion’s production of Julius Caesar, my heart broke for Brutus as fully as it did for Caesar.  By the time the cast reunites on stage for the final song, I was completely enthralled with each and every character. The compression of time – from hundreds of years ago to present day – with the choice of song was a final intelligent touch by Kellock in a very intelligent and heartfelt production. Bravo!