Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

Contemporary directors of Shakespeare often relocate the time and setting of the play to provide a fresh perspective on a story already known to an audience. When done well, a thoughtful reinterpretation can enliven Shakespeare's poetry and help the audience connect to the timeless turns of human experience depicted in the drama. Under the direction of Richard Mazda, the Queens Players transfer Shakespeare's tragedy, Julius Caesar, from the Roman Empire to the streets of New York. The change is cosmetic only, however, and does little to bring insight to this tragic tale of power and betrayal. The confusing characterizations and arbitrary aesthetic choices of this "Gangland" production bury the play's conflict and ultimately drag on its action, delivering a static and sometimes bewildering version of the classic.

Self-described as an environmental piece, the play begins with a raucous street scene where the audience stands outside among actors who portray "plebians" as they heckle noble "Romans." This spirited opener ignites the spark of possibility.  As the actors weave and shout between audience members, the excitement of what might happen hangs in the night air. Sadly, the promise of the unexpected dissipates as soon as the play moves inside and succumbs to clumsy staging that seems to confine the actors. The audience is lead to various spaces in Long Island City's Secret Theater to see different scenes, but the change of location slows the flow of the enfolding events and dampens the tension.

Many of the performances are hindered by forced movements which result in puzzling characterizations. Anthony Martinez, who plays an oddly sleazy Caius Cassius, slithers and snakes about the stage in a long leather coat while trying to convince Brutus, played by a brooding Alex Cape, to join the conspiracy against Julius Caesar. Bereft of any of the passionate idealism of Cassius' speech, Martinez' reptilian gesturing does little to clarify his motive for killing Caesar which is crucial to the central conflict of the play.  Without Cassius' relentless belief in the Republic above all else, Brutus' moral dilemma, Portia's struggle and the tragic irony of the play (the murder of Julius Caesar actually made it possible for Octavius to become emperor) was wholly lost on the audience. When the war of Act V finally arrives, the bodies pile up without a sense of what is at stake. Each consecutive death falls without consequence, without meaning, making it impossible to understand why Mark Antony declares Brutus to be the "noblest Roman of them all."

 Alex Cape does his best to create a Brutus worthy of such praise. His performance conveys intelligence and sensitivity. At one of the more interesting moments of the play, Cape reveals the anguish beset Brutus as he contemplates killing his friend by appealing directly to an audience standing but feet away. Ashley Denise Robinson delivers a touching plea as Artemidorus, a friend to Julius Caesar who tries to warn him of the plot. But these moments get subsumed by a production more intent on maintaining its Warrior-esque veneer than it is on developing the events crafted by the dramatist. Had the conceptual possibilities of the chosen approach been truly explored, this production might have succeeded in finding a new way to connect its audience to the text. It turns out rigor does not accompany style so this Julius Caesar never penetrates the surface.