Julius Caesar: An Excellent Play

Brittany Liebenow

Journal Entry 1 (Which happens to also count as a class entry.)

18 January 2010

Julius Caesar: An Excellent Play

I thoroughly enjoyed The Shakespeare Studio and Johns Creek High School’s modern adaptation of Julius Caesar. This adaptation switched written letters for text messages, real political elections for school council elections, and ancient Rome for the halls of Johns Creek High School. The overall news updates were presented in a form quite similar to the JCNN (Johns Creek News Network) that unfortunately starts every school morning. Humor was also a witty element added into this adaptation of Julius Caesar. The over reactive fear of fire and cautionary video about dealing with lions added a bit of lightheartedness to an otherwise dramatic play. One of my favorite parts of the lion video was when the vampire said, “I feel safe with you,” an obvious reference to Twilight. That made me laugh pretty hard.

I think Julius Caesar was performed with a modern twist because, frankly, very few people really understand what is going on in many of Shakespeare’s plays. Adding modern references helps keep the audience on track with the plot of the play while adding a bit of humor to it as well. Because the audience understands the modern references and is not partially lost throughout the play, the audience is able to sit back and enjoy the play much more than if they were straining to translate Shakespearian poems into common language.

This play was also a high school play; most high school children, especially these days, have very narrow interests and short attention spans. Inserting humor and modern references, like texting, into this play probably drew more teenagers to see Julius Caesar, a play out of their comfort zones, without fully being out of their comfort zones. In a way, the modern twist is sort of a compromise. The theater people say fine we’ll make it modern while the teenagers say fine I’ll see Shakespeare. Essentially, I think a modern adaptation was chosen to bridge the gaps between people who would regularly enjoy Shakespeare and people who regularly enjoy Twilight. It’s really good for those Twilight people.

I also think these drama departments decided to do a modern adaptation because the modern adaptation requires rewriting things. In order to replace or rephrase something, especially in nearly a different language, you have to understand the text. Once the text is understood, the meaning can be translated into any dialect, time period, or completely different language desired. Doing a modern adaptation requires the actors not just to read and memorize their lines with emotion and fluency but requires the actors to understand their lines with accuracy.

I thought the modern adaptation was definitely a good choice. Shakespeare can be enjoyable, but often boring, just to be honest. Adding present-day, and consequentially humorous, references, made the play just overall more enjoyable. During even some of my favorite movies and shows, I sometimes lose interest, play with my hair, or dive into dream world. During this play, I am proud to say, I didn’t lose interest, zone out, or play with my hair. The fact that I didn’t play with my hair is actually quite impressive because, as anyone I know can tell you, I pretty much do that all the time.

I also thought that adding the names of victims from school shootings was done very nicely. Usually things like that come off as cheap, but the whispering and overall incorporation came off as caring and respectful. The play was overall an excellent way to spend my Saturday evening.