Seana McKenna-Led JULIUS CAESAR Comes to Stratford

Previews begin today for Scott Wentworth's production of Julius Caesar, starring Seana McKenna in the title role. The production opens on August 16 at the Festival Theatre.

McKenna, who has played nearly all of Shakespeare's leading ladies as well as the traditionally male roles of Richard III and Jaques, plays Julius Caesar alongside Michelle Giroux as Mark Antony, Jonathan Goad as Marcus Brutus and Irene Poole as Cassius, with Monice Peter as Portia and Joseph Ziegler as Casca.

While Wentworth has retained the genders of the (mostly male) characters, the cast is a mix of male and female performers playing some of Shakespeare's greatest roles. By bringing female voices and female energies into the male-driven world that Shakespeare depicts, Wentworth hopes "we can unlock the metaphorical life of this play."

"'Lowliness is young ambition's ladder,' says Brutus, as he ponders the impending assassination of Julius Caesar," says Wentworth. "As Brutus describes it, we're all trying to climb the ladder, envying those above us and disdaining those below. It's a very masculine view of the world: one in which everything is a competition, an encounter of wills. And I think that's what western civilization - from ancient Roman times to today - has done with the public discourse: we've framed it in purely masculine terms as a drama of winners and losers.

"But the ladder is just an image, one way of looking at the world. It's not how things necessarily are. I believe that in Julius Caesar, Shakespeare - whose own queen had to rule on masculine principles - is calling into question the whole nature of what we now call patriarchy."

Written like a political thriller, the play begins as Caesar returns victorious from a civil war and is welcomed in Rome with tremendous popular acclaim. His friend and comrade Mark Antony offers him a crown, much to the alarm of a group of senators, including Cassius and Marcus Brutus, who perceive Caesar's political ambitions as a threat to Rome's republican system of government. They decide to assassinate Caesar before he can become a tyrant, but no one can foresee the twists of fate that follow the last twist of the knife, and the assassins' actions soon plunge their world into another war.

"Julius Caesar shows us the end of Roman democracy and is a warning to all of us who are concerned with our individual freedom and about our ability to direct our future as a society," says Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino. "Through the lens of this extraordinary cast, these themes - and the play at large - are explored on a whole new level and in a way that speaks to our changing world."

The creative team includes Designer Christina Poddubiuk, Lighting Designer Louise Guinand, Composer Paul Shilton, Sound Designer Verne Good and Fight Director John Stead.

Julius Caesar opens on August 16 and runs until October 27 at the Festival Theatre.

Production support is generously provided by Barbara & John Schubert and by the Tremain family.

Support for the 2018 season of the Festival Theatre is generously provided by Daniel Bernstein and Claire Foerster.

The Forum is a series of events, such as exclusive showcases, guest speakers, special meals, music and family fun, that offer theatregoers a unique opportunity to delve deeper into the ideas and issues raised by the 2018 playbill.

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