Julius Caesar: The 30-Minute Shakespeare. William Shakespeare
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when students perform Shakespeare. They “get” it. By occupying the characters and speaking the words out loud, students gain a level of understanding and appreciation that is unachievable by simply reading the text. That is the magic of a performance-based method of learning Shakespeare, and this book makes the formerly daunting task of staging a Shakespeare play possible for anybody.
With The 30-Minute Shakespeare book series I hope to help teachers and students produce a Shakespeare play in a short amount of time, thus jump-starting the process of discovering the beauty, magic, and fun of the Bard. Plot, theme, and language reveal themselves through the performance of these half-hour play cuttings, and everybody involved receives the priceless gift of “owning” a piece of Shakespeare. The result is an experience that is fun and engaging, and one that we can all carry with us as we play out our own lives on the stages of the world.
NICK NEWLIN
Brandywine, MDMarch 2010
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
The following is a list of characters that appear in this cutting of Julius Caesar.
For the full breakdown of characters, see Sample Program.
SOOTHSAYER
CHORUS
JULIUS CAESAR: A great Roman general
CALPURNIA: Caesar’s wife
ANTONY: A loyal friend of Caesar
BRUTUS: A high ranking nobleman
PORTIA: Brutus’s wife
CINNA THE POET
GHOST OF CAESAR
PINDARUS: Slave to Cassius
NARRATOR
A public place.
Enter NARRATOR from stage rear, coming downstage center. Enter CHORUS from stage right and stage left, making a “V” shape behind NARRATOR.
NARRATOR
A soothsayer warns Caesar of a dangerous day for him. Cassius is afraid that Caesar will become king and urges Brutus to oppose him. An ill wind blows. (CHORUS wave arms to emulate wind.)
Exit NARRATOR stage left.
Enter SOOTHSAYER from stage left, blindly feeling his way forward. Enter CINNA THE POET from stage left to guide SOOTHSAYER to CHORUS at center stage.
Enter JULIUS CAESAR, ANTONY, CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, TREBONIUS, and METELLUS CIMBER from stage right.
At CAESAR’S entrance, CHORUS hum flourish.
CAESAR
Calpurnia!
CASCA (silencing crowd with a wave of his hand)
Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.
CAESAR (gesturing)
Calpurnia!
CALPURNIA
Here, my lord.
CAESAR
Antonius!
ANTONY
Caesar, my lord?
SOOTHSAYER
Caesar!
Beware the ides of March.
(louder and with more intensity) Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR
He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
Exit ALL stage left except BRUTUS and CASSIUS.
STAGE RIGHT CHORUS hum flourish.
STAGE LEFT CHORUS (shouting)
Hail Caesar!
BRUTUS
What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Caesar for their king.
CASSIUS
Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.
BRUTUS
What is it that you would impart to me?
CASSIUS
I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter’s cold as well as he:
And this man
Is now become a god.
STAGE RIGHT CHORUS (shouting)
Hail Caesar!
CASSIUS
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus—
CHORUS (shouting)
Brutus!
CASSIUS
—and Caesar.
CHORUS (shouting)
Caesar!
CASSIUS
What should be in that ‘Caesar’?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
BRUTUS
My noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.
CHORUS hum flourish.
Re-enter CAESAR, ANTONY, CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, TREBONIUS, and METELLUS CIMBER from stage left.
CAESAR
Antonius!
ANTONY
Caesar?
CAESAR
Let me have men about me that are fat;
Yond