Stratford Festival Reviews

"brings together four of the company's finest actors in an ensemble triumph... Ben Carlson lends profound nobility to Marcus Brutus... in Geraint Wyn Davies' patrician presence, we get a very strong sense of the man's [Caesar's] swelling self-image..."

"Chicago Shakespeare favorite Ben Carlson has his moments as Brutus—a rather darker Brutus than is customary—but the show mostly struggles to make internal sense, or to extrapolate its lessons of political betrayals for our own lives." Part of a feature story.

Monaghan's not fond of the costumes... "The Roman citizens, outfitted in sandals and peasant skirts, appear to have wandered in from a Dave Matthews concert..." One of the commenters below the review added this: "I was a little put off by the Star Wars Stormtrooper look."

Nestruck enjoyed the acting, but not much else. "These Romans – the leads, anyway – are quite strong... While the central performances are sturdy, James MacDonald's production wobbles... What really undermines this production, however, is the design."

Not a favorable review: " In the end, Shakspeare [sic] wins -- as he always does -- but here, it is not just Julius Caesar who gets a hatchet job, but also the play that bears his name. And here, that is the true tragedy of Julius Caesar. "

" Tom Rooney's Cassius is a feverish, vulnerable compound of opportunism and conviction... Geraint Wyn-Davies' Caesar, as vain as he's powerful, is a great enigma, which is a compliment....the fine individual performances don't cohere into relationships..."

"Lofty notions of honour, nobility and friendship clash jarringly with pragmatism and political necessity, a dialectic so totally current that directors are tempted to drag the play, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century."

"Geraint Wyn Davies brings the right amount of ambition, vanity and self-absorption to Caesar... Jonathan Goad's handling of the funeral speech ranks as one of the most compelling, engaging moments in recent memory at the festival."