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Theater review: The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, tyranny, and the Stoicism of Brutus
Not long ago I went to see “The tragedy of Julius Caesar,” by William Shakespeare, in the Polonsky Shakespeare Center (Brooklyn, NY) production, directed by Shana Cooper. The New York Times’ Alexi Soloski really disliked it, but I’ll explain in the postscriptum to this article why Soloski — in my perhaps not too humble opinion — completely missed the point.
But first I’d like to present a philosophical review of the play, both in general and of Cooper’s version in particular. To do so, I will largely focus on the true main character, despite the title: Brutus, majestically played in Brooklyn by Brandon J. Dirden. Though I will also tell you of a surprising post-show bit involving Matthew Amendt, who played Cassius on stage, and who displayed a pretty good mastery of Stoic theory in the discussion that followed the performance.
The basic outline of the play is well known. Caesar is at the peak of his power, and there is talk in Rome that he is about to do the unthinkable: declare himself king. (The Romans had kicked out the last king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus — Tarquinius the Arrogant — back in 509 BCE, 465 years before the time in which the play is set. In fact, one of the people responsible for the fall of Tarquinius was none other than Lucius Junius Brutus, whom Marcus Junius…
