“Variety Show: Julius Caesar
Dublin’s New Theatre
★★★☆☆
As Joy Nesbitt’s biting satire, Julius Caesar Variety Show, takes the stage, a director oddly echoes “This isn’t Stratford-upon-Avon. This is Ireland,” attempting to bring a Shakespeare classic to an Irish setting. Within the buzzing local theatre atmosphere, the director masquerades his desire for fresh views during auditions but his guidance heavily hints at upholding the existing norms. (“Let’s stick to the original script,” he insists).
Actors auditioning, who oblige amiably out of the necessity of work, are compelled to comply with exploiting enactments – case in point, a Roman general’s anxious spouse performing an alluring dance or a black actor channeling primal anger to portray Caesar’s assassin. The Director, flawlessly portrayed by Ultan Pringle’s cynical prowess, exhibits the hubris to negligently steer his whims: “I am simply a grown-up theatre kid.”
[Dublin Fringe Festival 2024: The festival celebrates its 30th year with 19 breathtaking shows]
When a black performer (Loré Adewusi’s careful portrayal) is pigeonholed by a white director to roles distorted with violence, it asks unsettling questions about a business that continually harbours predominantly white casts. Is this just dramatized conjecture?
The show invokes an element of disquiet as Nesbitt’s lampoon, designed to disconcert, leans on less credible tools. “Maintain the exaggerated theatricality,” Pringle’s director instructs when pushing a female artist (played with acute precision by Pattie Maguire) to endure a demeaning depiction. This inclination towards dramatism seems to reflect the play’s choice when private conversations conveniently become public or confinement suddenly occurs amidst a manipulated crowd of opponents to refugees. Perhaps they are simply creatives driven to insanity by sentinel decisions.
Variety Show: Julius Caesar – This is a comedy grimly questioning an obstinate theatre industry.
Paddy Daddy: Mark T Cox’s vivid cabaret painting his personal exploits in rural Ireland.
It Was Paradise, Unfortunately: An extraordinarily ingenious examination of theatre as a transformative art form.
I used to hold my tongue during discussions. Now, I can face any crowd. Do you wish to know what changed?”
The Dublin Fringe Festival, hosted at the New Theatre, is set to carry on until Saturday, September 14th.