Let Slip the Dogs of Community Theatre

Adam Command
So, as I was begining to write yesterday about my last play, I decided to stop and wait becasue See How They Run is a very confusing, fast comedy that is extremely entertaining and funny but relies heavily on physical effects; therefore, it is hard to blog coherantly about. I decided instead, bieng in Grand Rapids, to go see the Circle Theatre's production of Julius Caesar. It is part of a string of 6 plays by the Bard. Although this is merely the second string of productions in community theatre, next to the actors studio, the acting was better than I expected. In fact, Michael Rissier's performance as Marc Antony was down-right brilliant. This was the second time I have seen this play(last time 8 years) and if there is one area that needs to be really good, it would be the acting. The play relies on gigantic monologues and fierce confrontations and is the most political play Shakespeare has written, in my mind. J.C. is hard to produce because the members of the audience who are not extreme Shakespeare fans are in danger of falling asleep if the long monologues are not passionate. Good thing for this production, it was very passionate. There was so much enthusiasm by the cast and along with Rissier, Hales and Forrester who play Cassius and Brutus were fantastic in their deliveries. Brian Spaulding, who played Caesar was not great but he is only a part for less than half the play. The staging was modest and did not charm the audience with the traditional tricks of staging a Shakespeare play, no doubt because of the budget. But the diction and clarity the Circle Theatre provides suits the structure od J.C. There are two huge speaches and they bring the croud into it. When Antony comes out to speak to his people after Caesar is murdered was awesome. He used the audience and he was really trying to convince us and pumped us up in different ways, including screams and "heys"! "Here lies Caesar, when such comes another!" Honestly, I am a pretty descent judge of the Bard's work, especially on the lower level of community theatre, and I can say this was one of the best performed play I have seen. The back-stabbing, metaphorical and literal was so intriguing and the play moved with a lightning pace, never allowing a dull moment. The actaul murder of Caesar was cool as the senators cirlced him, plotting with each other and trying to manipulate the crowd, again, which we participated in. It was just flat out fun. The political agendas and struggles for power in J.C. was interesting. There are many twists and turns. For instance, Brutus does not original want to go along with the killing of Caesar but goes along with it for the sake of Rome, so he says. But really, he is after power just like anyone else. He and Cassius consistantly get out-smarted by Antony, starting with the debate about the death of Caesar where Antotny sways the crowd (us) back to belief that Caesar was a great man. It was cool how we made the decisions. All and all, I am glad I got a chance to watch Julius Caesar because it had a nice irony to it, especially during election season. All this talk about Romney and Obama lately, it seemed appropriate to put this play on. I had fun! Directed by Andy Vankampen