{"id":1528,"date":"2017-12-22T14:45:10","date_gmt":"2017-12-22T14:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/?p=1528"},"modified":"2017-12-22T14:45:11","modified_gmt":"2017-12-22T14:45:11","slug":"imperium-on-the-potomac-staged-in-stratford-upon-avon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/2017\/12\/imperium-on-the-potomac-staged-in-stratford-upon-avon.html","title":{"rendered":"Imperium on the Potomac staged in Stratford-upon-Avon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Richard McCabe as Cicero addressing the Senate
photo by Ikin Yum<\/p><\/div>\n

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Though a fan of Robert Harris\u2019s fiction, I have to confess that I\u2019ve not read his Cicero trilogy. That\u2019s probably because I had insufficient exposure to Cicero during the many years I did Latin at my Kentucky high school. (Indeed, I have the impression that my father, at more or less the same schools, was much better grounded in the classics.) Of course, I\u2019ve had to translate snippets of Cicero for the several Latin exams an American student has to take on the way to the PhD, but I was ignorant of the details of the life of the greatest orator of them all. So I was happy to subject myself to nearly seven hours of sitting in the arm-rest-free seats of the Royal Shakespeare Company\u2019s Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for the many, many hours it takes to Imperium<\/em> Mike Poulton\u2019s two-part adaptation of three Harris books in a single day.<\/p>\n

Under Gregory Doran\u2019s direction the actors pop up all over the small house. But most of these stage effects can be achieved in the larger, more comfortable, Stratford auditorium (currently hosting A Christmas Carol<\/em>); why, I wondered aloud to my wife, didn\u2019t the RSC stage this marathon double-header there? My wise wife, who has more Latin (and sometimes commercial sense) than I, pointed out that \u201cCicero would never fill the seats in the larger house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comfortable it was not, though we had Row D ground floor seats with extra leg-room. The \u201cVisitors,\u201d for whom the staff told me they had shut off one of the disabled loos, appeared to be seated at the back of the ground floor, in less agreeable seats than ours. The identity of the mysterious visitors was not in much doubt: I spotted one black Range Rover with its engine running on the apron directly in front of the revolving-door entrance on the river side; several more parked nearer the river; and the place was heaving with well-groomed security people standing as unobtrusively as they could manage near every entrance. I thought (but am not certain) I caught a glimpse of Camilla\u2019s hair as the party swept out the door. \u201cWhat wonderful irony,\u201d I laughed with the celebrated war historian and former national newspaper editor sitting to my left, \u201cthe royals have come to see a play about the restoration of the republic.\u201d<\/p>\n

While complaining about the seven-hour ordeal, I should acknowledge that, during the two hours between plays, we had a great martini, decent wine, and a good dinner in the RSC\u2019s Rooftop restaurant. How did Cicero, played by Richard McCabe, find the stamina for his stellar performance? He is almost never off the stage, in Part I, \u201cConspirator,\u201d which recounts chiefly the Catiline conspiracy, or in Part II, \u201cDictator,\u201d which takes the story through Julius Caesar\u2019s assassination through the victory and accession of Octavian. He speaks more words than I think I\u2019ve ever heard from a single actor \u2013 many of them, my Cicero-savvy wife points out, translations, or derived from his actual orations. How can anyone commit that much material to memory? I am in awe of McCabe\u2019s memory \u2013 but also of his achievement in delivering these many speeches and famous lines (\u201cO tempora! O mores<\/em>\u201d), in low-key translation, without bombast, and with minimum rhetorical flourish. If it seems peculiar that the most celebrated rhetor in history eschews much of the dramatic effect of his words, it is probably (as my wife again avers) because \u201che\u2019d wipe the rest of the actors off the stage.\u201d So, good for Mr McCabe and Mr Doran.<\/p>\n

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Joseph Kloska as Tiro
photo by Ikin Yum<\/p><\/div>\n

Mr Poulton, who also adapted the Hilary Mantel novels for Wolf Hall<\/em> (which I have to confess to enjoying a tad more), has made Tiro, Cicero\u2019s real-life secretary, into an occasional narrator, who breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience who\u2019s who, who\u2019s done what, and how things are going to end. He also editorialises a bit, and has all the funniest jokes. I particularly enjoyed it when Tiro (played with aplomb and good humour by Joseph Kloska) remarks that \u201closing one Consul is unfortunate; losing two is \u2026\u201d and the audience finishes the Wildean quotation for themselves. But there is nothing careless about this production.<\/p>\n

Most of the really evil characters echo Donald Trump. Catiline (Joe Dixon, made-up to look really scary), Cicero\u2019s \u201caristocratic rival,\u201d has a Trumpian sense of entitlement, his narcissism compounded by his ignorance. Pompey, the conquering general, has a ridiculous-looking Donald Trump wig, and makes the sinister but comic O-gesture of the Donald\u2019s wee hands. In the second play Joe Dixon is Mark Antony, whose nasty populism is as dangerous as the Donald\u2019s. Peter de Jersey is strangely handsome as Julius Caesar in both plays, and Cicero comes to recognise that sparing Caesar the garrotte \u2013 for his part in the Catiline conspiracy \u2013 \u00a0was his worst mistake.<\/p>\n

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The Company in Part II, “Dictator”
photo by Ikin Yum<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perhaps, though, Cicero made an even greater mistake in believing Octavian really did mean to restore the republic. Oliver Johnstone plays Caesar\u2019s adopted son as a pretty, bisexual, seemingly sincere 19-year-old, too young for treachery. The scene in which he reveals to Cicero that he has Trumpian delusions, and believes he is a god (son of the gorgeous Apollo, of course) is magnificent.<\/p>\n

The actors are uniformly excellent in both plays, and the \u201ccreatives\u201d superb. Designer Anthony Warner\u2019s simple sets have a kind of splendour (enhanced by Mark Henderson\u2019s lighting) and his Roman costumes include particularly comfortable-looking togas, peplums and sandals. The one battle scene is pleasingly balletic; and composer Paul Englishby\u2019s live music is apt. The over-all noise level is a little high for such a small space. I\u2019m glad I left my hearing aids at home.<\/p>\n

Is there a warning for us in Imperium<\/em>?\u00a0 Of course there is \u2013 though it\u2019s not so much that we face the threat of the republic being overthrown, and a dictator running the show. Our problem is more the danger of the Leges Clodiae<\/em>, when Cicero\u2019s patrician prot\u00e9g\u00e9-turned-enemy, Clodius, got himself converted into a plebeian so that he could be elected Tribune of the Plebs, and passed laws allowing fascist mobs to flourish. Is there an analogy between the Clodians and the Brexiteers? I think probably, yes. But there is a definite and stronger link between the Roman mob and the festering, undereducated American electorate that put Trump in office, and allows him to continue in it.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Though a fan of Robert Harris\u2019s fiction, I have to confess that I\u2019ve not read his Cicero trilogy. That\u2019s probably because I had insufficient exposure to Cicero during the many years I did Latin at my Kentucky high school. (Indeed, I have the impression that my father, at more or less the same schools, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blogroll-2","7":"category-elsewhere","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbv6zV-oE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1533,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions\/1533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/plainenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}