Julius Caesar: RSC

The Courtyard Theatre might be a lovely theatre in it's own right but I always have trouble hearing the actors whenever I sit in the stalls. Somehow, the sound gets lost under the galleries above. True to form, I spent a lot of the first half straining to hear what Brutus was saying, particularly when he was facing away from my section of the stalls. Luckily as the play progresses, passions are raised, voices get louder and audibility is no longer a problem. Julius Ceasar is one of those plays that improves as it goes along, especially once it reaches the assassination itself. Up until then it tends to be rather static and talky, but after that point, the conspirators find their plans unravelling and are outwitted by the seemingly buffoonish Mark Antony. There may be suggestions of the indolence and luxury to come in Antony and Cleopatra, but Cassius was right in wanting him removed. He's still a first class orator and a sharp political operator, fuelled by a sense of righteous vengeance. Brutus on the other hand proves to be disastrously naive. Video projection makes the bare stage seem more populous than it is and gives a sense of Rome's bustling crowds, appealed to by both factions. Sam Troughton's Brutus comes into his own in the latter half of the play as events spiral out of his control. The scene where he relates news of his wife's death shows the Stoic desperately suppressing overwhelming emotion. It's a great scene with Cassius, who ends up more sympathetic than usual, and his death feels genuinely tragic. Mark Antony, Lepidus and Octavius meanwhile show signs of the future cracks in ther alliance, yet these men can still mourn Brutus for his honour and nobility.