Preview: Julius Caesar at Newcastle Theatre Royal

 RSC Return to Newcastle Theatre Royal with Julius Caesar

 

Julius Caesar

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Tuesday 9 – Saturday 13 May 2023

 

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is to return to Newcastle Theatre Royal with a visceral new production of Julius Caesar in May.

Directed by the award-winning Atri Banerjee, Julius Caesar will feature Thalissa Teixeira as Brutus and Kelly Gough as Cassius – both making their RSC debuts - in the roles of the leaders who plot to kill Caesar.

Talking about the production, Atri Banerjee said:  “I’m delighted that audiences will get to see Thalissa Teixeira and Kelly Gough as, respectively, Brutus and Cassius. Along with several other parts across the company, we’ve re-imagined these roles to tell a story about power today: who holds it, who wields it, and who gets to challenge it.

“Julius Caesar is the perfect play for our age of emergency, asking uncomfortable questions about today. When asked to imagine a better future for us all, what resources do we have left? What are the limits of peaceful activism? How far would you, personally, go, to make the world a better place?

“By thinking of the roles in this play across intersectional lines - gender, race, class, disability, among others - we’re inviting audience members to think of their own place within the status quo and what might be at stake for each of us within it.

“Thalissa and Kelly are two formidable actors and I’m so excited for their take on this central character relationship, within the context of an extraordinary cast of 19 from across the nation. I can’t wait to show audiences that Shakespeare’s searing political tragedy, is as pertinent now as it ever was.”

 Concerned that Caesar seems dangerous, revolutionaries take the violent decision to murder him. They have no plan for what comes next. As the world spins out of control, chaos, horror and superstition rush in the fill the void. Civil war erupts and a new leader must rise: but at what cost?

Thalissa Teixeira will be making her RSC debut as Brutus and earned an Ian Charleson award nomination for her role in Electra at The Old Vic., Her theatre credits include Women Beware Women, Othello, The Broken Heart and The Changeling (Shakespeare’s Globe) whilst on television she has played Gemma in Trigonometry (BBC Two) and Madge Shelton in Anne Boleyn (Channel 5), as well as appearing in The Musketeers (BBC).

Also appearing with the RSC for the first time is Kelly Gough as Cassius.  Other theatre credits include The House of Shades (Almeida Theatre) and A Streetcar Named Desire (English Touring Theatre). On film Kelly has appeared in Tarrac, Out of Innocence, Kill Command, Jump and Belonging to Laura whilst on TV, credits include Grace, Marcella, Shadow and Bone, Call the Midwife, Broadchurch, Vera, Casualty, Law & Order and Raw. 

William Robinson makes his RSC debut as Mark Antony with Nigel Barrett (Julius Caesar), Nadi Kemp-Sayfi (Portia) and Jimena Larraguivel (Calpurnia) all making a welcome return to the RSC.

The full cast is: Jamal Ajala (Lucius), Mercedes Assad (Marullus/Artemidorus), Annabel Baldwin (Soothsayer), Nigel Barrett (Julius Caesar), Matt Ray Brown (Cicero), Matthew Bulgo (Casca), Ella Dacres (Octavius Caesar), Joshua Dunn (Cinna The Poet/Popilius/Carpenter), Katie Erich (Caius Ligarius/Cobbler), Niamh Finlay (Pindarus), Kelly Gough (Cassius), Gina Isaac (Decius Brutus), Robert Jackson (Flavius/Cinna The Conspirator), Tom Kanji (Metellus Cimber/Lepidus), Nadi Kemp-Sayfi (Portia), Jimena Larraguivel (Calpurnia), Pedro Leandro (Trebonius), William Robinson (Mark Antony) and Thalissa Teixeira (Brutus).

Shakespeare's political thriller exposes the ambiguity in trying to shift power. As we rage against the crises surrounding us, how far will we each go for our political principles?

Photo: Marc Brenner

Tickets:

Performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company are amongst the most eagerly anticipated in the Newcastle Theatre Royal calendar. Julius Caesar plays from Tuesday 9 – Saturday 13 May 2023. Tickets can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 0191 232 7010.