{"id":112177,"date":"2026-08-17T10:50:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=112177"},"modified":"2026-08-17T14:29:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:29:57","slug":"julius-caesar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/julius-caesar\/","title":{"rendered":"Julius Caesar"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Julius<\/a>Ancient Rome. Modern tensions. Terrific theater.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Under the summer sky at Forest Meadows, Julius Caesar<\/em> is big, bold, sometimes funny, frequently violent \u2014 and thoroughly entertaining.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Jon Tracy<\/strong> takes Shakespeare’s familiar tragedy and makes us look at it anew.<\/p>\n

Caesar has a Walkman and a guitar. Brutus and Cassius are sisters. Rome lives somewhere between the late 1960s and early 1980s. A massive wall dominates the stage, while helicopters, gunfire and military activity tell us that trouble is never far away.<\/p>\n

This isn’t Shakespeare preserved under glass.<\/p>\n

It’s alive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This isn’t Caesar in modern dress. It’s Rome reimagined from the inside out.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The Story \u2014 In Brief
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Julius Caesar returns to Rome enormously popular and increasingly powerful. Cassius fears he will become a tyrant and persuades Brutus and other senators that Caesar must die to save the Republic.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

They assassinate him.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mark Antony turns Caesar’s funeral into a devastating act of persuasion, the Roman people turn against the conspirators, and the struggle to save the Republic becomes civil war.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

They kill Caesar to save Rome \u2014 and help destroy it instead.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That’s Shakespeare’s story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What Tracy does with it is something else.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Johnny Moreno’s Caesar<\/strong> is the first surprise.<\/p>\n

He appears in casual attire, headphones connected to a Walkman, acoustic guitar in hand. He takes his pills and struggles with a chord.<\/p>\n

So much for the marble statue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moreno gives us an aging, vulnerable Caesar increasingly captivated by his own public image. The music grows. The crowds gather. Adoration builds.<\/p>\n

The private man becomes the public Caesar.<\/p>\n

Tracy makes Brutus and Cassius sisters<\/strong>, played by real-life sisters Bridgette Loriaux and Charisse Loriaux<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It’s an inspired choice.<\/p>\n

And the Loriaux sisters are very good<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Their scenes together give the conspiracy an emotional dimension that goes well beyond politics. Cassius pushes. Brutus struggles. Family loyalty collides with political conviction.<\/p>\n

Brutus isn’t simply at war with Caesar.<\/p>\n

She’s at war with herself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Politics starts the conspiracy. The sisters make it personal.<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Everyone has a reason.<\/p>\n

Caesar believes in his greatness. Brutus believes in honor. Cassius believes Caesar must be stopped. Antony believes in vengeance.<\/p>\n

Nobody thinks they’re the villain.<\/p>\n

That’s what makes them dangerous.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tracy’s real subject isn’t simply assassination. It’s how people get there \u2014 how fear becomes conviction, conviction becomes certainty, and eventually something unthinkable begins to seem necessary.<\/p>\n

Then comes Brady Morales-Woolery’s Mark Antony<\/strong> and the speech everyone knows.<\/p>\n

Morales-Woolery makes the moment less about hearing famous words and more about watching persuasion happen.<\/p>\n

Antony works the crowd, and before our eyes public opinion begins to turn.<\/p>\n

The words haven’t changed. The crowd has.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forest Meadows is a wonderful setting for all of this. Daylight fades. The hillside darkens. Tracy’s strange new Rome gradually takes over.<\/p>\n

And somehow ancient Rome doesn’t seem very ancient anymore.<\/p>\n

The result is accessible, imaginative, visually exciting and enormously entertaining Shakespeare<\/strong> \u2014 with something unsettling just beneath the surface.<\/p>\n

More than four centuries later, Tracy makes the story feel immediate again.<\/p>\n

That’s quite an accomplishment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And perhaps that’s why Shakespeare survives.<\/p>\n

We keep returning.<\/p>\n

He keeps surprising us.<\/p>\n

And this Julius Caesar<\/em> leaves us with one particularly good question:<\/p>\n

Who is telling our story?<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Historical Footnote: What Happened After Caesar?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe great irony of Caesar’s assassination is that it accomplished almost exactly the opposite of what his killers intended.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nBrutus, Cassius and their fellow conspirators believed killing Caesar would save the Roman Republic. Instead, his death unleashed another series of civil wars. <\/span>Mark Antony survived the assassination and initially joined forces with Caesar’s young heir, Octavian, to defeat Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Philippi<\/strong>. Both Brutus and Cassius died by suicide.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\nAntony and Octavian then became rivals. Antony allied himself with Cleopatra of Egypt<\/strong>, but their forces were defeated by Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE<\/strong>. Antony and Cleopatra subsequently died by suicide. <\/span>Octavian emerged as Rome’s undisputed ruler and, in 27 BCE<\/strong>, became Augustus<\/strong>, generally regarded as Rome’s first emperor.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

They killed Caesar to save the Republic. Instead, Caesar’s death helped bring the Republic to an end.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

JULIUS CAESAR<\/strong>
\nMarin Shakespeare Company
\nForest Meadows Amphitheatre
\nDominican University, San Rafael<\/p>\n

Through September 13<\/strong><\/p>\n

Performance Schedule:<\/strong>
\nThursday\u2013Saturday at 7:30 PM
\nSunday at 5:00 PM<\/p>\n

Tickets:<\/strong> $22\u2013$70
\nYouth:<\/strong> $10, ages 25 and under
\nThursdays:<\/strong> Pay What You Will
\nBox Office:<\/strong> (415) 499-4488<\/p>\n

Recommended for audiences who enjoy bold, imaginative theater, strong performances and Shakespeare that feels fresh, accessible and thoroughly entertaining.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tickets & Information:<\/strong>
\n
\nMarin Shakespeare Company \u2014 Tickets
\n<\/a><\/p>\n