As a play about political betrayal that features an infamously brutal assassination, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar has always required a bit of grit from its audience.
But the Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest production, with an all-female cast led by Dame Harriet Walter, is set to open with an astonishing 14 trigger warnings – advising less robust ticket holders about the use of plastic knives, plastic machine guns, and even fake blood.
The gripping political tragedy about the ambitious Roman dictator’s downfall at the hands of envious senators is famous for its ominous line advising Caesar to ‘beware the Ides of March’, a premonition that he will be killed in the middle of the month.
But there are more extensive warnings for theatre-goers before they even set foot in the auditorium of Stratford-upon-Avon’s The Other Place theatre.
They include alerts that the title character will be stabbed on stage ‘close to the audience’, ‘deaths, murder, and the reporting of a death by suicide’ and – unsurprisingly for a Shakespeare tragedy – ‘characters experiencing grief’.
The production stages the play as if performed by inmates of a women’s jail, prompting producers to warn that it will include imprisonment scenes, as well as ‘the occasional use of strong language’ and ‘sounds of war including recorded gunshots’.
Last night, critics – including some of the country’s leading Shakespearean actors – branded the RSC’s warnings ‘absurd’.
Actress Felicity Kendal, who has starred in acclaimed productions of Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night, said: ‘This is patronising. Why the need to apologise in advance for being moving and effective?
Dame Harriet Walter leads an an all-female cast in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s latest production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
Dame Walter pictured on the poster for the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar
‘To itemise every aspect and sound effect of a performance beforehand seems absurd.’
The production, called First Encounters: Julius Caesar, stars Walter as idealistic Brutus, who turns traitor. It will initially tour five secondary schools before opening in Stratford in November.
But critics say the fact that it will be performed for younger audiences is no justification for the extensive warnings, which also apply to the theatre performances.
Dame Janet Suzman, a celebrated Shakespearean actor, said there was no need to ‘mollycoddle’ children.
‘They should be shouting out to audiences to come and be shocked and surprised and intrigued and not creep in nervously,’ she added.
The RSC said: ‘Advice on content is designed to help people make informed decisions, such as whether to bring children to a performance.’
