Review: Optimist Theatre Embraces Shakespeare and Its Audience

You can feel fall. The breaking of a stick. The shattering of leaves. It's unusual to fall victim to this intense experience in the aggressively muggy, unending days of August in Milwaukee. And yet you'll feel this beginning with the first chord of Optimist Theatre's production of Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar, performed 12 times over 3 weekends: August 4-7, 11-13, and 18-21. Free to the public, this marks the program's 7th season, held outdoors at the Selig-Joseph-Folz ampitheater in Alice Bertschy Kadish Park.

The location itself is at the melting point/intersection of Milwaukee neighborhoods Riverwest, the Eastide, Brewer's Hill, and Bronzeville and overlooks the Milwaukee River and the smattering of city beyond, moon hanging gracefully above. It's the perfect setting for Julius Caesar, a play written by a writer from a height of his power and influence. The atmosphere created by the troupe and designers holds the force of endless rooms full of mirrors. It demands, what does it mean to be the king? Is it heavy? Is it happy? Can it last?

Optimist Theatre's production, headed by Susan and Ron Scot Fry, begins in a frenzy, music, the calls of townspeople, the optimistic and the pessimistic, the humorous and the sad. Players march and wander the stage offering what they have and seeking what they desire. Julius Caesar, played by Allen Edge, newcomer, enters triumphant and jolly. A sort of Ghost of Christmas Present. The words and set changes are accompanied by insistent, rhythmic guitar and drum refrains elegantly placed by TJ Hull Soundscape Composer and Sound Designer Megan B. Henninger.

Of course, Caesar is followed by ominous and sly figures: the silhouette of Marc Antony (Laura Gray), steely-eyed Brutus (Angela Lannone), and soft-faced Cassius (Patrick Lawlor). The audience nearly rises to its feet in glee as the Soothsayer (Leslie Fitzwater) delivers her famous line, "beware the Ides of March." And we're off.

As most of us expect from Shakespeare, the play has it all, schemers, dreamers, suicides, impalings, dangerous weather, and action: running toward and running away. The costumes are spare and illuminate the player's features. And of course, through it all, there's that glimmer of fate, the suggestion of hope and death that hovers just above the scene and lingers in every corner.

While the dynamics and chemistry within the group (there are frequently multiple players on stage at a time) is always cohesive, Casca (Emmit Morgans) and Brutus (Angela Lannone) are impressively consistent scene-stealers. The character arcs of these two, achieved even with eyes, even within a sentence, are memorable and punctuate the quiet of some surrounding performances. All of the players clearly articulate the difficult and sometimes tongue-twisting lines.

Co-Directors ML Cogar and Tom Reed make important choices, casting some women in male roles and staging the final battle scenes without swords. Make no mistake the passion between two female actresses, Brutus and his wife Portia (Libby Amato), is palpable and the concluding bloodshed and betrayal sickening.

Perhaps most importantly the play, held this unique venue, seems shared; it achieves a quality of inclusion. In the audience, we fully feel the sorrow, the guilt, the flattery. The themes are highlighted within the spare yet solid design: the human tendency to pounce on weakness, the jealousy of those perceived to be closer to the gods. And the fear of being victims, sometimes perhaps though heroes...the question remains unanswered in the open night.

Optimist Theatre's Julius Caesar runs Aug. 4-21 at the Selig-Joseph-Folz Amphitheater in Kadish Park, 308 E. Lloyd St. For more information, visit optimisttheatre.org.

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