Julius Caesar • 2013 - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

68
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Act 5
AS A CLASS
56
Make the Cut
Act 5 is not the easiest act to stage in the theater. It jumps from place to place, and it’s filled with armies, horses,
plus characters we hardly know. Almost never is a Shakespeare play staged or filmed without a number of cuts
to the script. (Apparently, according to scholars of Renaissance theater practice, this was also true in Shakespeare’s
own day.) So, if you’re a director staging Julius Caesar, you may really think about cutting out chunks
of Act 5. If you choose to cut out the short Scene 2, do you lose information essential to the story? Or is there
a way that your audience will pick up that information even without Scene 2? You’ll have to read further into the
scene to make a good argument either way! And what do you do about that hill that Titinius needs? (In the abstract,
symbolic 2001 Italian production, Giulio Cesare, Titinius took one step up to a four-inch mound of dirt on
the stage.) And assuming you won’t have horses on your stage, what do you do with all the equine language?
Cut it? Change it? Keep it and deal with it representationally? (And you’ll soon be able to compare your decisions
with those made by Director Jonathan Munby in CST’s production.) CONSIDER COMMON CORE ANCHOR
STANDARDS R5, SL4
IN SMALL GROUPS/PAIRS
57
58
Destructive Duo
Just like real people in our own lives, Antony and Octavius have two very different ways of arguing, and they do
it—a lot. Go back to the opening of Act 4, as well as taking another look at the way each approaches an argument
in 5.1 (with each other and then with Cassius). With your partner, do a bit of dissecting of their styles. Then in
pairs, come up with a good verbal fight—one person arguing as Antony does, the other, like Octavius. CONSIDER
COMMON CORE ANCHOR STANDARDS L3, R1
Between the Lines
While reading Shakespeare’s plays, it can be like detective work searching out all the hidden meanings, innuendos,
and double entendres that can be found “lurking” in the text. Shakespeare was famous for weaving in these
gems in all of his plays. When you first read the angry banter between Cassius, Antony and Brutus (5.1 from
“Antony...”to “And very wisely…”), it may just sound like a bunch of meaningless words hurled at one another. In
groups of three, read it aloud once. Now return to the lines and really accentuate those words or phrases that you
suspect could have an alternative meaning. What are these men doing with their words? CONSIDER COMMON
CORE ANCHOR STANDARDS L5, R1, SL1
Julius Caesar • 2013