Caesar and Cleopatra
Caesar and Cleopatra
Author: George Bernard Shaw
Date Written: 1898
First Performance: 1906, Berlin, then New York
Published: 1901
Genre: Drama in 5 acts and a prologue
Setting: Egypt, 48 bc
Cast: 26m, 4f, extras
In a Prologue Ra cynically comments on Caesar and Cleopatra, asserting that human nature has not changed. In an Alternative Prologue we learn that Caesar is victorious in Egypt. Timidly encountering a strange ‘old gentleman’, Cleopatra is encouraged by him to assert her authority as rightful queen and then discovers that he is in fact Caesar. In Alexandria her young brother, the boy-king Ptolemy, is dependent on his Roman guardian Pothinus, who organizes resistance to Cleopatra's claim to the throne. In order to quell a revolt, Caesar occupies the lighthouse....
[The entire page is 329 words long]
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