Lee Theatre to Perform "Julius Caesar"
Lee University’s theatre department is taking a “laid back” contemporary take on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, “Julius Caesar.” The production shows a fresh perspective on the timeless tale of betrayal and politics. The show will take place on February 15-17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Buzz Oates Blackbox in the Communication Arts Building.
Dr. Williams, director of the show, shed light on the decision to perform “Julius Caesar” this year. “We haven't done a Shakespeare in a while," said Williams. "We do actually try to do a Shakespeare at least once every four years so that our students get that experience, but with COVID and everything, we were just off-kilter." According to Dr. Williams, this is the first Shakespeare show that has been performed by Lee Theatre since 2017.
The show follows the traditional storyline of the events leading to Caesar’s assassination, but adds a modern twist. The production involves a cast of many women, despite the traditional casting of few women, and a reimagined setting in a private high school. “I wanted to find a way that we could have a cast of a lot of women…” said Dr. Williams. “We have set it where a private high school has been working on this for a couple of weeks and this is kind of their last time to get to act it out to try out some different roles. And so there is not one person who plays Caesar, but multiple people play him at different points.”
Alysse Brendtke, a senior theatre major, works as the sound designer for the show. "As the sound designer, it requires me to go to production meetings outside of the rehearsal time and then I have to find a bunch of sounds of different sound websites…then put them into Q lab, which is our sound system in the sound room." The show will mark Brendtke’s tenth show with Lee Theatre and her second show as the sound designer.
Smith Langstaff, a sophomore theatre education major, enjoys that the show allows him to take on different characters with different personalities. “My favorite part of playing different roles is being able to express myself in different ways and go through different emotional stages.”
Although the show takes on a different angle, the original idea of handling the role of power in one’s life and government remains the same. “I think that this is kind of the reason why this play is still produced today very often and still studied in most schools is because there are some universal themes about power and ambitions and those decisions of when to stand up and do something and when not and how far to take your objections,” said Dr. Williams.
“I’m excited for people to see how different it is compared to what they normally think of Julius Caesar because normally people are like, ‘Oh, Julius Caesar, I read that in…seventh grade’ and they memorize some kind of monologue from it for English, and this one, it’ll be a little bit different,” said Smith Langstaff.
The ability to see the show from start to finish is one of Dr. Williams’ favorite things to experience as a director and is excited to share the theatre program’s work with the community. “I get to see day one and when we open and I get to see the growth of everybody through that process. That’s a lot of fun and not everybody gets to see that. I also love having all the ideas from other people from the actors, from the designers, everybody coming together and we get to create this thing that we all worked on together. It’s a neat experience.”
Lee University’s rendition of “Julius Caesar” hopes to captivate audiences with its new contemporary approach and timeless tale. Tickets for the show can be purchased at EventBrite. General admission tickets begin at $8.86, depending on seat location. Tickets are complementary for Lee students and staff.
For more information about the show and how to purchase tickets visit https://www.leeuniversity.edu/theatre/.
