An Awfully Big Adventure

So, the third chapter of my life begins! After 'retirement' I have lots of plans to explore some of the amazing cultural experiences I have not found time for and intend to blog regularly on art, books, theatre, film, libraries, literacy - whatever takes my fancy - so here goes - welcome to my blog!

The first few days of retirement were spent in bed - sadly not through choice but because my body decided enough was enough and I was struck down with fever. I didn't even have the energy to read! However, I dragged myself out of bed on Tuesday 27th March as I had tickets for Julius Caesar at The Bridge Theatre - a treat I was determined not to miss.

And what a treat! The stellar cast of David Calder as Caesar, Ben Whishaw as Brutus, David Morrissey as Mark Anthony and Michelle Fairley as Cassius did not disappoint. The production and staging were superb. The Bridge has standing (the Pit) as at the Globe and the 'Romans' became part of the play, being moved around skilfully as parts of the stage rose and fell in the centre of the theatre for different scenes. The use of modern trimmings such as balloons, baseball caps, t-shirts, brought the play right up to date and showed that it resonates so much with today's world. Peter Holland in the play's programme comments on a striking trait between Caesar and Donald Trump: the tendency to speak of themselves in the third person, what the OED defines as "excessive use of the pronoun 'he' for which the technical term is "illeism". Caesar refers to himself as Caesar 19 times in the play.

In another article, Matthew d'Ancona "A political text for our times" notes that "Brutus is the Roman counterpart of the modern liberal elite at its most insulated. He urges the mob to 'censure me in your wisdom' and 'be the better judge', appealing to love of country 'a place in the commonwealth' and hatred of tyranny. In his lofty rationalism, there are uncomfortable echoes of the Remain campaign's bombardment of the 2016 electorate with statistics during the EU referendum, embedded in which was the message that only a fool, an undeveloped citizen, could vote for Brexit".

The play still speaks today about democracy, what it is and how fragile it is. As we have all discovered just this last week, "democracy dies without transparency and fairness" (Observer: The Cambridge Analytica Files, 25th March).

A superb production - see it if you can.