JULIUS CAESAR Donmar Theatre

Actresses are always complaining, and very reasonably, that there not enough roles for them in Shakespeare. Phyllida Lloyd justifies her all-female production by setting the play in a women’s prison. The actresses present a manly front. Harriet Walter, in particular, with her hair brushed back and her anguished face, could easily be mistaken for a man and is totally convincing as Brutus. But, as for the others, I never felt I was actually watching Cassius, Caesar and Mark Antony; I was just watching prisoners rehearsing a play and I never got involved in the play itself. One way to create more female roles would be to do what they regularly do at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. They do not to ask women to play men; they turn male roles into female roles.