BWW Reviews: JULIUS CAESAR, Saatchi Gallery, October 2 2014

Caesar, smirking in a sharp suit surrounded by sycophants (also in sharp suits), pooh-poohs the warning of a paparazzi photographer to "Beware The Ides of March". I think we all know what happens next.

Proud Haddock Production's Julius Caesar (staged in the Saatchi Gallery as a one-off before transferring to the Chelsea Theatre from 2 - 15 November) gets everything right that the modern dress Jesus Christ Superstar (recently at the O2) got wrong. Sure there are hooded teens from central casting ready to riot like it's 2011, but they make perfect sense in the post-funeral chaos, with no feeling that the Yoof Of Today are being patronised as colourful rich kid extras BBMing their mates for a rumble. The mocked-up newspaper headlines work too (but those apostrophes could do with a sub-editor's eye!). Nobody needs an X translated into a 10 for the conspirators' putsch to feel pretty proximate. The script, of course, is rather good - and that always helps.

But it's nothing (well, not quite nothing, but you know what I mean) without interpretation, and this is where Proud Haddock, in their debut production, really score. Alexander McMorran is a smug Caesar, as pleased with himself as the adoring citizens, who thrice offer him The Crown which he thrice refuses. Neither fat nor old enough to be deaf in one ear, he is every inch the potential tyrant that Brutus fears. Adam Blampied's Brutus is as foolishy high-minded as ever, perhaps slightly overdoing the "sucking on a thoughtful tooth" as he ponders on the poisonous words of Cassius (William Findley, fiendish rather than lean) dropped with murderous intent into his honorable ear.

There's a winning turn from James Lorcan as a ruddy-cheeked Casca and Rebecca Livermore is legitimately exasperated as Calpurnia, but the standout is Ed Sheridan. Looking a little like another favourite sporting son of Italy, AS Roma's Francesco Totti, he's introduced to us first as a runner - but he's soon running rings round Brutus and Cassius, as he appeals to the emotion of the mob who will soon be tweeting #MAforKing and #SackBrutus. The celebrated funeral oration that lets slip the Dogs of War was delivered as Bill Clinton would deliver it - bypassing the brain and arrowing into the heart. I've not seen a better Antony.

There are one or two matters to iron out before the November run, but this was an assured debut, director Jimmy Walters and his team creating a plausible, fully rounded vision of Julius Caesar as it would play out in 2014. Wait a minute - as it would play out? As it is playing out..

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