NEW YORK - In William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Brutus, the reluctant assassin, is described as both "honourable" and "noble" by his fellow Romans.
In bringing the character to life on the stage of New York's Belasco Theater (where Julius Caesar runs until June 12) Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington captures both qualities. Where his portrayal suffers, aside from an ocassional tendency to mumble, is in what the Romans themselves called dignitas -- a sense of assurance and entitlement, based primarily on birth and underlined, in Brutus' case, by wealth.
Physically, Washington's Brutus is simply too tentative a presence within the circle of aristocrats who plot to kill Caesar (played by William Sadler) rather than see him take a crown.
Under the direction of Daniel Sullivan, this remains nonetheless an immensely satisfying production: Crisp, clean and to the point, uncluttered for all that Sullivan and designers Ralph Funicello (sets), Jess Goldstein (costumes), and Mimi Jordan Sherin (lighting), have played fast and loose with period, setting the play in some modern-day nation riven by civil unrest.
(The tendency here, of course, is to read Iraq into the equation, but unless one is prepared to cast Uncle Sam himself in the role of Caesar, it seems to be stretching Shakespeare just a little too thin.)
About the kindest thing that can be said about Sullivan's taste for time travel is that, aside from a few fun moments with a metal detector and some spectacular sound and fury in the battle scenes, it doesn't get in the way of a truly timeless story.
Credit for that must go not just to Shakespeare and Sullivan, but to some of the more seasoned actors in the boldly colour-blind ensemble -- an ensemble that avoids at every turn the temptation to pit black against white in a story that is only concerned with right and wrong.
Perhaps the most powerful performance is turned in by our own Colm Feore, making a triumphant and welcome return to the classical stage.
Cast as Cassius, Feore wears the obligatory "lean and hungry look" with relaxed conviction and expertise, underlining at every turn the fact that for the majority of these conspirators all is envy.
But there are other strong performances as well. Jack Willis finds wonderful and welcome humour in the character of Casca, while Jessica Hecht turns Portia into a superb audition for Lady Macbeth.
In the role of Mark Antony, Eamonn Walker is solid, particularly in his funeral oration ---- not a single snicker at the overworked "Friends, Romans, Countrymen ...' By his own timidity in the early scenes however, Eamonn fails to make the most of his character's transition from playboy to general. As Octavius Caesar, however, Kelly AuCoin finds meat in a small but memorable part.
Unfortunately, Sadler's Caesar isn't up to much (fortunately and ironically, no problem in a play that could have as easily been called Brutus) and he gets scant help from his Calpurnia, played by an overwrought Tamara Tunie.
So in the end this isn't a perfect production, but it is a noble effort and certainly one well worth catching for more than just a glimpse of an Academy Award-winning actor in the flesh.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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