Seen at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on the 18^th of August 2023

3 stars – articulated and dense

There is great excitement in Rome, where the political atmosphere is electric with ambition and conspiracies. The people that are the closest to Julius Caesar are the ones that are going to betray, in the name of freedom for the people of Rome. Largely faithful to Shakespeare’s tragedy, except for some cuts and an introductory addiction, this new show by Myths Unbound Production is articulated and dense in its composition.

On an essentially set stage (design by Laura Bachman), the whole cast (Nathan Young, Alisdair Halkett, James Hay, Andrea Linhova, Harris Williamson and Gunnar Bjerke) is almost constantly on stage. Scenes and freezes overlap on different levels of the stage as well as on different layers of the story. On this device is based most of the dynamism of the play, even though transitions could be clearer and maybe reinforced by light solutions.

Cassius (James Hay), Caesar (Nathan Young) and Casca (Harris Williamson) are energetic and strong characters, but their relation with the others is sometimes unbalanced, as not everybody seems to have the same rigour, and the almost empty stage doesn’t necessarily help in these regards. The director Edoardo Berto gives relevance to each character at the right moment and creates plenty of aesthetically appreciable images. Choices for costumes by Felicity Anderson-Moore are minimalistic but highly symbolic, in some moments resulting more effective than in others.

Overall, this production is interesting and rich, completely different from last year’s Prometheus Unbound (Io’s Version) in the suggestiveness of setting and atmosphere but aiming at the same intensity.

Tickets and Info: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/julius-caesar-must-die

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