The Pembroke Players' production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar starts not in a Roman street, as you might expect, but in a modern-day classroom. The teacher tells the pupils that they have had a week to prepare their play and it is now time to perform, and magically, these bored schoolchildren – shirts untucked, headphones hanging round their necks – transform into a group of Roman senators. There is Cassius (Quintin Langley-Coleman), convinced he is in the right yet still taut as a bowstring as he plans Caesar’s murder, there is Caesar himself (Michaela Morgan), proud and imperious, intensely ambitious and contemptuous of lesser men, and then there is Brutus – “the noblest Roman of them all”. 

Through Ed Limb’s stunning interpretation, the audience witnessed Brutus’ bitter internal struggle; contemplating and carrying out the murder of his erstwhile friend Caesar, quarrelling with his friend Cassius on the field of battle, and finally meeting his end as he thrust his sword through his own heart at the sight of Cassius’ dead body. To convincingly portray a role of such unremitting psychological intensity, particularly in such an abridged version of the play, says much for Limb’s skill as an actor. Compared to the rest of this stellar cast, Anthony (Inge-Vera Lipsius) was perhaps not quite so strong as the others, but given that she was also co-director, I think she can be excused for having other things on her mind.  

The staging of the play was excellent – I particularly liked the way the actors stood behind the audience during the famous speeches from Brutus and Mark Anthony, so that the audience of the play also became the audience within the play. The subtle use of lighting was also extraordinarily effective, especially when Brutus saw a vision of Caesar’s ghost on the eve of the battle, warning him that he was doomed. In death Michaela Morgan was as haughty as in life, yet with an impassive stare and implacable voice that sent shivers down the spine.  

The modern day setting cleverly circumvented any difficulties with props and costumes, and in fact added to the drama of the play rather than diminishing it. When Brutus and Cassius call for goblets of wine before the final battle against Anthony they are presented with shiny red coke cans, and with their shirts and army fatigues they could have been modern-day soldiers waiting to enter the front line. The occasional snatches of contemporary music seemed slightly random and could probably have been missed out, but as far as staging went this was a minor quibble. The script was adapted well, the minimal production was highly successful, and there were some spectacular performances, particularly from Brutus and Caesar. If the actors had had a month to rehearse, this play would have been good. Given that they had a week, it was incredible.