Julius Caesar (Vol. 85) - Bruce Weber (review date 22 January 2003)
Bruce Weber (review date 22 January 2003)
SOURCE: Weber, Bruce. Review of Julius Caesar. New York Times (22 January 2003): B5, E5.
[In the following review of Karin Coonrod's 2003 Theatre for a New Audience production of Julius Caesar, Weber contends that this production's contemporary American setting and anti-conservative political agenda obscured rather than broadened the drama's underlying character conflicts.]
Like a lot of intelligent people, Shakespeare was amazed at the paradox of political speech—that it is demonstrably misleading, and that people believe it anyway. This is the bizarre quirk of human nature that Julius Caesar deals with especially. And because politics is never without purveyors of egregious, self-serving lies, the play is perpetually relevant. Though it doesn't have the psychological depth of Hamlet and doesn't achieve or even aim for the grievous sadness of King Lear, it can...
[The entire page is 845 words long]
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