This is cultural appropriation... in fact misappropriation. Caesar was a Roman populist who was assassinated by slave-holding Roman aristocrats for offering Roman peasants a bigger share of the pie ... at the expense of the aristocrats. The group Caesar sinned against, apart from the aristocrats, were Europe's Celts, who he massacred in great numbers, not American minorities.
Delta feels a special shared kinship with the President. They are both experts at (ahem) "alternative realities." Case in point is Delta's Medallion program to award its best customers. Upgrades are now as scarce as White House appointees who still trust the boss. To paraphrase Shakespeare: "Art thou but an 'upgrade' of the mind, a false creation?" As many Gold, Platinum and even Diamond level suckers will attest, "I have thee not, and yet I see thee still." Eventually both Delta's customers and Trump's base are going to realize that they haven't gotten what they were promised. Delta felt obligated to defend a dishonest bird of a similar feather by de-funding a brilliant arts organization. Why am I not surprised?
My own take of Julius Caesar and the fall of the Roman Republic's democracy (it was more the conservative Optimates refusing to put the Republic before their own interests, rather than Caesar, that led to the Republic's fall; they left Caesar little choice other than civil war in 44) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/caesar-politics-fall-roman-republic-lesso...
1
"Like Rome, the increase in money has led to a narrowing of who can compete to hold office."
Like ancient Rome's optimates, today's Congressional legislators' wealth sets them apart from the masses. Bernie Sanders, for example, is a millionaire, and so it seems is Elizabeth Warren. Rome's optimates were land owners and creditors (e.g., Cicero was a slumlord), but the common people were landless debtors, many of whom were enslaved in debt bondage. Caesar was a populare and an advocate for Rome's common people in such matters as land reform and debt forgiveness, issues which were seen by the optimates as potential threats to their wealth and power.
Like ancient Rome's optimates, today's Congressional legislators' wealth sets them apart from the masses. Bernie Sanders, for example, is a millionaire, and so it seems is Elizabeth Warren. Rome's optimates were land owners and creditors (e.g., Cicero was a slumlord), but the common people were landless debtors, many of whom were enslaved in debt bondage. Caesar was a populare and an advocate for Rome's common people in such matters as land reform and debt forgiveness, issues which were seen by the optimates as potential threats to their wealth and power.
Oh the elite liberals are so clever. They can express their berserk, hysterical hatred of President Trump, and show his murder in theater and get away with it. All because it is under the guise of art, and the FBI will not arrest them. Just do something like that to any of their favorite groups or idols and watch how berserk they get.
2
is that corey , from house of cards? love him. eager to see this stellar production if he is in it...
If all the reactions are valid, let's restage the play with an Obama look-alike and see the reaction.
1
It has been done. It toured the US. It was gripping and the audience gasped in horror at the silver knives and the red blood flowing against the grey suits. Yes, the Julius Caesar looked like our then President. But the story doesn't stop there. The play goes on.
To my knowledge, there was no outcry at the representation in that version. Do we know if Mussolini had his minions whine about the Orson Welles version? The play makes us think, a consummation devoutly to be wished in this time of hasty, ill-thought out actions.
To my knowledge, there was no outcry at the representation in that version. Do we know if Mussolini had his minions whine about the Orson Welles version? The play makes us think, a consummation devoutly to be wished in this time of hasty, ill-thought out actions.
3
My own take of Julius Caesar and the fall of the Roman Republic's democracy (it was more the conservative Optimates refusing to put the Republic before their own interests, rather than Caesar, that led to the Republic's fall; they left Caesar little choice other than civil war in 44) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/caesar-politics-fall-roman-republic-lesso...
1
The reason for making Julius Caesar resemble President Trump; and all the other liberal embellishments, like a black assassin have nothing to do with art. It is pure liberal hatred of President Trump, and their desire to get rid of him any way they can. They think they can get away with it because they claim it is art!
2
The night I saw this production, no one walked out/booed/protested.
The Public Theater should re-stage the play offering the prostrating right a Trump-like Cesar Who survives and becomes what they apparently want him to be - an iron willed dictator/king who becomes the emperor of America.
i confess to mixed feelings. I'm all for artistic freedom and it's not like Julius Caesar, rightly praised for its message about the wages of unchecked power, is an unknown play. But context counts. The country is besieged by divisive rhetoric, and yes, this president has has his hand in raising the temperature, encouraging violence himself and indulging in intemperate outbursts and unhinged rants against opponents real and imagined. The show excerpts I've seen look like nothing more than Donald Trump being assassinated, exactly like that. As for all the conversations about the meaning of the play and its nuances, sheesh. Shakespeare doesn't need the blond wig and the red tie to make the point. The people to worry about aren't carrying copies of the play they read in middle school in their pockets. They're the same idiots who travel to a DC pizza joint to unmask a child sex ring conspiracy they heard about on social media.
2
And, as it turns out, the shooter who targeted Republicans in Washington today with his semi-automatic weapon was a Bernie Sanders supporter (like Jeremy Christian) and had pictures of Trump dressed up like Julius Caesar on his facebook page.
There are too many children being raised to believe that as long as they have the right ideology they can say or do anything they want no matter how violent. Celebrities are some of the most revered people in the world and live glamorous lives and yet they threaten violence toward politicians they don't like (Kathy Griffin, Ted Nugent, Madonna, Patton Oswalt, etc etc).
People have grown to adulthood thinking that they can physically attack others and property with no reprucussions ("Rape Melania" signs, throwing eggs and urine at women standing peacefully, professors screaming at Ivanka Trump and her infant child on a flight and they keep their jobs, anti-fa Professors beating peaceful protestors with a bike lock, etc).
Students leave school and skip exams to protest as long as they are protesting Trump and getting extra credit for it.
That's how we got here. I'm getting more locks on my door in case some more peaceful anti-fa or BLM protests come to my town.
There are too many children being raised to believe that as long as they have the right ideology they can say or do anything they want no matter how violent. Celebrities are some of the most revered people in the world and live glamorous lives and yet they threaten violence toward politicians they don't like (Kathy Griffin, Ted Nugent, Madonna, Patton Oswalt, etc etc).
People have grown to adulthood thinking that they can physically attack others and property with no reprucussions ("Rape Melania" signs, throwing eggs and urine at women standing peacefully, professors screaming at Ivanka Trump and her infant child on a flight and they keep their jobs, anti-fa Professors beating peaceful protestors with a bike lock, etc).
Students leave school and skip exams to protest as long as they are protesting Trump and getting extra credit for it.
That's how we got here. I'm getting more locks on my door in case some more peaceful anti-fa or BLM protests come to my town.
1
Within hours of this post, and my tiredness at the incessant house everything’s and Jewish in laws always being so willing to demean and degrade everything Roman and Italian, as beneath them, evasively in this autumn of the matriarch knows as a clownish hold hag who cant let the dream die, an Italian American representative was shot and an assassination attempt made. Ah Dante in English and baseball in Italian, This perfect and fitting simile, I guess, or is metaphor, as my mother noticed all the Clintons victims, except their still sorest Pops, all had Italian names begetting their crime family status, if not as Borgias. as have read Roman farce since ten, than your usual acts of Caesar, the story of a shot wop congressman, shades of Moscone, was cut away here in Pittsburgh for a parade for a hockey team coming back whose stars admitted to shady practices, as remember that Al, and act accordingly.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AnthonyAcriaradiocomix/posts/RuUqKkBx6nw
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AnthonyAcriaradiocomix/posts/RuUqKkBx6nw
At age 15, I memorized "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..."
for English class - some 56 years later I still carry many lines from this
great speech and other Shakespearean verses in the well of my inner life and they are there for me when trying to make sense of the senseless. As an artist, I am not convinced that specific contemporary clothes and "toupees" make "Julius Caesar" more relevant to a contemporary audience perfectly capable of drawing their own parallels . With Shakespeare, it is the words
(and deeds) that make the man, not the clothes.
for English class - some 56 years later I still carry many lines from this
great speech and other Shakespearean verses in the well of my inner life and they are there for me when trying to make sense of the senseless. As an artist, I am not convinced that specific contemporary clothes and "toupees" make "Julius Caesar" more relevant to a contemporary audience perfectly capable of drawing their own parallels . With Shakespeare, it is the words
(and deeds) that make the man, not the clothes.
2
The events that unfold in this play are consequences of mob rule. Neither Caesar, Marc Anthony, Brutus nor Cassius operate in a vacuum. The key to the action is the shifting value system and worldview of the citizens of the Roman Republic that augurs a shift to empire rule. The story, in actual history and in literature / theater, point to core lessons for citizens, and for rulers & subjects in earlier times. Our leaders represent who we are. When I saw this production I saw not a violent tableau, but the morally blind mob that fostered it.
3
If corporate sponsorship, and corporations like BOA and Delta, had been a thing in the late 18th C., one imagines they would have pulled sponsorship of the premiere of Mozart's great masterwork, Le Nozze di Figaro. The play by Beaumarchais on which it is based had been banned by Emperor Joseph II because of its biting political commentary against the ruling noble class. Mozart's librettist, Lorenzo da Ponte, managed to get it past the Emperor's censors by removing or watering down the most overtly political elements, but even da Ponte's libretto portrayed the nobles as bumbling fools, constantly outwitted by their wiley servants, Figaro and Susannah. BOA and Delta, I'm sure, would have been too eager to curry the Emperor's favor to be willing to take a risk on what would come to be regarded as one of Mozart's greatest works.
1
I think General Mathis would make a much better Caesar.
Nay, those that would trouble mine own rest are naught.
But I, Mad Dog, must surely be the cause of their lost slumber.
Nay, those that would trouble mine own rest are naught.
But I, Mad Dog, must surely be the cause of their lost slumber.
Would the same play been performed if Hillary Clinton had been elected president? That certainly would have presented a new spin. During the Obama yea, the play was performed with an Obama-like character as Caesar? Why didn't that performance receive the same attention? It's a wonder that that performance was not condemned as racist because it would have portrayed the killing of a black man. Oh well, what a complicated world we live in these days. Too bad everything is just not as simple as black and white. Cheers!
1
I don't think anyone has an issue with Wm Shakespeare's mastery of the form , just with the sensationalistic, sleazy staging of this production. It would be appropriate to acknowledge that.
1
I take it you have already been to the Delacorte to see it and that is what you base your opinion on.
6
A point being missed (by those who claim that anyone who says the play is in bad taste is missing the point) is that this has little to do with constitutionally protected free speech. The constitution protects speech in a public setting from GOVERNMENT interference.
The current administration is having trouble getting ANYTHING done this month. I don't think they decided to target a production in New York City and even if they did I don't they'd be very successful. The media, which has been exposed frequently over the last year, is trying to turn this production into a Victim which is the most celebrated type of person in America right now.
The Public Theater is performing the show. The government is not doing anything to stop them. Private people getting Private corporations to NOT donating their money is not an abridgement of free speech by the government. Everyone who likes the play can write a check for $200 to help make up the shortfall. People around the country, whether they see the show or not, are free to express their opinion and donate without government interference of that right to free speech. Hollywood celebrities are free to give a tiny portion of their wealth and the show can run for years but I'm not holding my breath.
The current administration is having trouble getting ANYTHING done this month. I don't think they decided to target a production in New York City and even if they did I don't they'd be very successful. The media, which has been exposed frequently over the last year, is trying to turn this production into a Victim which is the most celebrated type of person in America right now.
The Public Theater is performing the show. The government is not doing anything to stop them. Private people getting Private corporations to NOT donating their money is not an abridgement of free speech by the government. Everyone who likes the play can write a check for $200 to help make up the shortfall. People around the country, whether they see the show or not, are free to express their opinion and donate without government interference of that right to free speech. Hollywood celebrities are free to give a tiny portion of their wealth and the show can run for years but I'm not holding my breath.
As an English literature professor, I am horrified by the utter ignorance of so many of those railing against the Shakespeare production. Curious how many of them have actually read the play, and understand its significance. The production was not "anti-Trump" in any way. For those who know the play, such outrage is laughable and, as Trump himself might say, "sad."
4
After Trump's weird cabinet meeting the other day, and all the fawning remarks of his underlings, I'd have thought that the opening of King Lear, with Goneril and Regan trying to outdo each other in showing how much they love Daddy, might be the appropriate Shakesperian analogy here. Of course Lear comes to a bad end too, but largely because of his own hubris and self-centerdness.
A recent production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (a comedy about a Florentine con man) had a Trump like figure at the center and was very effective.
A recent production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (a comedy about a Florentine con man) had a Trump like figure at the center and was very effective.
3
First of all, it doesn't cost anything to see this play as getting tickets for the show is usually free, though to get them you have to be at the line at the right place at the right time. In other words, it's not as if anyone had to give money to the Public Theater in order to see it. In all honesty, I didn't know this play was going to be made to resemble Trump until I saw something on the way to the Delecorte Theater later on as well as what was on the stage. Originally, I though it was going to be the usual Julius Cesar play, not this one. Then again, it's probably because the Public Theater just wants to keep up with the times since the original rehashing has been done so many times over especially being the original. The only difference was just having everyone dress up as in today's looks but using the original lines. BTW, using plays and even operas to express feelings isn't something new as this was done in 19th century Europe in some countries to express independence from those ruling them by using them depicting events similar to what they were going to do. However, I don't picture anyone trying to kill Trump in real life, and I would just show how much I don't like him just by voting against him in the next election, though I didn't vote him for him in office to begin with either. As for those who pulled their sponsors, the Public Theater can always find others to replace them.
Saw the production before the press attention. Love the series and never miss a play, but this production: meh. Elizabeth Marvel drawls inconsistently and is overall unpersuasive. The blocking and the set do not play well to the side seats. The broad comedy of the Trump sections unbalance the whole. The language still sings and the drama stings, but not a memorable interpretation. Shoulda trusted the Bard and gone with a straight production.
2
It's kind of anti-the-point to argue that Delta and BOA are "wrong" to withdraw their support. Vote with your money. I add AMEX in here; it earlier made a statement 'clarifying' that its support of The Public does not include support of Shakespeare in the Park. I imagine that will be very few people willing to buy a flight that's $200 more than a Delta flight on principle or cancel their credit cards if they have enough points to buy a really good set of headphones. It's the reason trump became president. Hubris is what got us where we are all the way around. It's important to make your point, but it's more important to make your point sharp enough to be felt.
4
Sadly it appears even the NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) is afraid that a Presidential Tweet might be directed at them, as they made a clear statement to distance themselves from the Public Theater "...no NEA funds have been awarded to support this summer’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar and there are no NEA funds supporting the New York State Council on the Arts’ grant to Public Theater or its performances."...but the NEA is also a supporter of the Guthrie Theater, which has been identified casting an Obama-like in "Julius Caesar" and of course he gets assassinated, just like in the script based on history, but did the NEA make a statement then?
Hey did anyone hear that other statement that's been repeated, "Black Lives Matter"...maybe they need to hear it again and again.
Beware of corporate and government spineless hypocrites, one day you will be in the minority they don't care about... and who will come for you.
And for all those that think the current play at the Public Theater will incite people to violence, need to think about the ratio of people who watch Avengers movies vs. the number of people who go to the Public Theater. And really do we think a conspiracy of Senators will use a knife to stab the president, when they can barely ask pointed questions in a hearing?
Hey did anyone hear that other statement that's been repeated, "Black Lives Matter"...maybe they need to hear it again and again.
Beware of corporate and government spineless hypocrites, one day you will be in the minority they don't care about... and who will come for you.
And for all those that think the current play at the Public Theater will incite people to violence, need to think about the ratio of people who watch Avengers movies vs. the number of people who go to the Public Theater. And really do we think a conspiracy of Senators will use a knife to stab the president, when they can barely ask pointed questions in a hearing?
7
So, nobody has noticed that it actually is becoming a dictatorship? That the Bill of Rights is disappearing and the "right" of free speech with it?
7
If you think our country is becoming a dictatorship under Donald Trump, you are completely innocent of what a dictatorship is. Do some reading about Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia.
Becoming, but we can still stop it as could the Germans in the early 1930s.
No one suggests it is becoming a dictatorship of that level. But Putin's Russia seems well within reach.
How stupidly childish of Delta and Bank of America to withdraw support from a Shakespeare play no matter what Caesar looked like. Recently the Brits did a stunning dissection of Prince Charles, William and Harry. So what! "The play's the thing..." Someone once said that...Who do you suppose?
7
Delta and Bank of America are not persons. Only the Supreme Court thinks so. And that is not a human being either.
3
All Shakespeare plays have a social and political message. Mussolini would have objected to Orson Welles play.. Should he have cancelled that production? Isn't the message of our current political environment portrayed by the greatest of all English speaking playwrights. What's wrong with that?
2
I have seen this production and it is a highly irresponsible theaterical/political event given the volatile climate and combustible elements in our political world. This very cartoonish production was meant to be mean-spirited and demeaning and it succeeds in these deplorable ways. Instead of hiding behind disingenuous statements about demoncracy the Public Theater should own up to the fact that it has gone political and in doing so has made a vile mistake. In short, the Public Theater owes the President and his wife as well as the general public a sincere apology. Secondly, I suggest it correct this major error by making the actors wear traditional Shakespearian costumes and have them stick to the original play. Failing that, they should cancel the remaining shows.
1
You think it might cause a revolution? You think America is unstable? Are you working for the Russians?
5
Did you make the same demand of apology when Casear was shown as Obama in 2012? You did not, I bet. What's your thought on the Welles play with Mussolini?
The play is political, so a theater should "go political" if it wants to. Only staging Shakespeare in traditional costumes is a rather dull way to think of his plays. They are more than that, and can be done in many different ways, which is why they are great.
The play is political, so a theater should "go political" if it wants to. Only staging Shakespeare in traditional costumes is a rather dull way to think of his plays. They are more than that, and can be done in many different ways, which is why they are great.
What would the NY Times position on sponsoring this play be if it portrayed the assassination of Obama or Hillary or Muslim refugees or anyone other than Trump.
It wouldn't make a bit of difference with that. But they may not have liked it.
Actually, there has been an Obamalike Caesar. 'Five years ago, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis staged a production featuring the assassination of an Obama-esque Caesar by a group of right-wing conspirators.' No outrage then.
7
Julius Caesar by Shakespeare drawing from Plutarch's Histories shows us both the fickleness and the power of the people to change history. Shakespeare draws Caesar both as a human and as a demigogue, arrogant enought that he is dismissive of the many warnings that come his way, that had he listened to them, could have saved him.
Caesar is overly concerned about the public mask that he wears, comparing himself to the Northern Star towards which other men turn to guidance, right after the audience sees how fickle he is, listening to Decius' flattery so that he will leave his house and go to the Senate on the Ides of March.
"Beware the Ides of March!" Yet, Caesar's dying words, "Et tu, Brute!" create sympathy in the audience.
Certainly, Trump shares Caesar's arrogance, but I don't see that he expanded the empire, gave people more rights, and let them be included in his will. In other word, there are many reasons why Caesar's legacy has lived on, both in history and in literature.
Trump is no Caesar, but a little man, undeserving of any power an certainly no leader. When Antony shows the plebeians Caesar's mantle, reminding them of his many conquests, and when he shows them the wounds, they are touched and horrified, demanding justice, willing to burn down the streets of Rome as they mutiny.
American today, we, the plebeians, just watch passively, as this traitorous dictator destroys our country. Instead, we should be yelling, We will be satisfied, let us be satisfied!
Caesar is overly concerned about the public mask that he wears, comparing himself to the Northern Star towards which other men turn to guidance, right after the audience sees how fickle he is, listening to Decius' flattery so that he will leave his house and go to the Senate on the Ides of March.
"Beware the Ides of March!" Yet, Caesar's dying words, "Et tu, Brute!" create sympathy in the audience.
Certainly, Trump shares Caesar's arrogance, but I don't see that he expanded the empire, gave people more rights, and let them be included in his will. In other word, there are many reasons why Caesar's legacy has lived on, both in history and in literature.
Trump is no Caesar, but a little man, undeserving of any power an certainly no leader. When Antony shows the plebeians Caesar's mantle, reminding them of his many conquests, and when he shows them the wounds, they are touched and horrified, demanding justice, willing to burn down the streets of Rome as they mutiny.
American today, we, the plebeians, just watch passively, as this traitorous dictator destroys our country. Instead, we should be yelling, We will be satisfied, let us be satisfied!
7
The New Yorker will be using a lot of red ink on next weeks cover painting.
You will see Caesar (DJT) throw a woman to the ground!
Kathy Griffin is suing, claiming she was promised the cover first!
I love the first amendment, allowing journalists and other artists complete freedom.
Maher is being left off the cover due to an abundance of more graphic Real News.
You will see Caesar (DJT) throw a woman to the ground!
Kathy Griffin is suing, claiming she was promised the cover first!
I love the first amendment, allowing journalists and other artists complete freedom.
Maher is being left off the cover due to an abundance of more graphic Real News.
This play does nothing to encourage democratic debate, but rather encourages us to take adversarial positions that further polarize our already polarized country.
The far too graphic assassination scene is all about the Public Theatre shoving their hard left viewpoint into your face. This is about a theater company's narcissism and exhibitionism--this is what I think, I don't care if it offends you, this is about ME.
Shakespeare clearly isn't the point of the play, rather he's been used. This play is a form of virtue signalling that lets everyone how much the Public Theatre hates Trump.
Therefore, the play shreds democracy rather than honors it. The assassination scene is so bloody over-the-top that it simply stops the discussion.
So much for free speech.
A Registered Democrat who'd love to see Trump impeached
The far too graphic assassination scene is all about the Public Theatre shoving their hard left viewpoint into your face. This is about a theater company's narcissism and exhibitionism--this is what I think, I don't care if it offends you, this is about ME.
Shakespeare clearly isn't the point of the play, rather he's been used. This play is a form of virtue signalling that lets everyone how much the Public Theatre hates Trump.
Therefore, the play shreds democracy rather than honors it. The assassination scene is so bloody over-the-top that it simply stops the discussion.
So much for free speech.
A Registered Democrat who'd love to see Trump impeached
2
I prefer an evening of Big Bird from Sesame Street myself.
My wife and I saw Julius Caesar at the Delacorte Theater this past Saturday. The production blew me away. Yes, Caesar was intended to look like Donald Trump. Yes, Caesar gets stabbed to death by Brutus and his co-conspirators. He ALWAYS gets stabbed to death in this play.
This production stands firmly in the tradition of the Public Theater's offering of high quality, often experimental theater, such as Hamilton. The Public offers a full summer calendar of Shakespeare in the Park. All performances are FREE to the public.
Regarding Delta Airlines and Bank of America's pulling their sponsorship (BoA only for this production), I guess it's their right to decide where their corporate funding goes.
My wife and I just renewed our membership. I hope that many others will step in and throw their support behind this worthy theater.
See you in the park!
This production stands firmly in the tradition of the Public Theater's offering of high quality, often experimental theater, such as Hamilton. The Public offers a full summer calendar of Shakespeare in the Park. All performances are FREE to the public.
Regarding Delta Airlines and Bank of America's pulling their sponsorship (BoA only for this production), I guess it's their right to decide where their corporate funding goes.
My wife and I just renewed our membership. I hope that many others will step in and throw their support behind this worthy theater.
See you in the park!
36
Thank you! I don't know how anyone who actually knows the play and has seen various versions of it, particularly this version in the park, could find offense. What has happened to our educational system? (I'm an English professor and am often stunned by how little the students have read. And this is an example of why it matters so much.)
2
I do not understand why there is ANY talk, fuss or jive over what any Artistic Production Company or Theatre chooses to do with Cæsar Story, be it a Centuries Olde replicated Carbon Copy of Togas, Opium Vaporizers and Lead-Laced Wine, to the Lincoln Administration, Pol-Pot, Mao, Stalin/Soviet-Bolshevik Rule, the vicious rampage of Francos "White Terror" along with the historically Genocidal Papal State of the New Roman Empire from Olde Southern France to Turkey later dubbed the "Entrance to the Occident [West]", meaning everything North and West of the City of Romes Lat./Long. (as the Kingdom of Naples was under Arab Rule [hence the religious Roman obsession with the The Holy Virgin who is, in the New Testament, a False Idol yet more important than Jesus in the Qu'Ran), to the Islamic invaision of Modern Day Europe by Southern Italians/Arabs/Carthaginians halted by Martel in Modern Day Piedmont, Italy (which was France at the time, as well as Sicily who was under Carthaginian Rule and both were part of the Western Orient [Western East], as Rome was the Olde Greenwich, Britannia in Longitude), to Taft, FDR, Ike, Apartheid, Thatcher, Reagan, Clinton, JFK, etc. Admnistrations of Presidents, Prime Ministers or whatever new clever, or sometimes just flat-out idiotically jazzed, Titles people in Power give themselves.
Any Corporation defunding a rare treat such as Shakespeare in the Park should be boycotted by all. Isn't that the Moral of Cæsar? Today HIM....Tomorrow YOU....
Any Corporation defunding a rare treat such as Shakespeare in the Park should be boycotted by all. Isn't that the Moral of Cæsar? Today HIM....Tomorrow YOU....
6
Earlier this spring I caught the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Julius Caesar in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. They played it straight. Unlike the Brooklyn production, this JC was completely orthodox- ancient Rome, togas etc. No specific references to the current international political situation, apart from what can be discerned from the text. Strictly "draw your own conclusions." ...fyi.
2
FYI, The Delacorte is in Central Park, not Brooklyn.
1
Art is like fish, whether you like it not depends upon your tastes. To me, the problem is not a modern version of the play, the problem are the feelings behind producing it, and those who applaud. I have no party, no television station, no talking head that speaks for me. In my circle, we give banned books as presents. So as an individual I sit here quietly watching the uproar and know that this time, it's more than art. It's more than just a theater production. It's more than just a poke in the eye (pick the metaphor of your choice) to the powers that be. With the level of discord on the far left with regards to who is in the White House, I can't take it any other way. I'm not one for boycotts, unless it's an individual making their own choice, not one for censorship, or shutting down voices. However, I can read the political tone of the day, and it's not coming off as a harmless fluffy little bunny of art. Sponsors do what they will, perhaps they just don't want to get caught up in any potential backlash. Just want to note that although JC is a cautionary tale, it will instead be looked upon by many as merely an opportunity to act out a murderous fantasy. Regardless of many paragraphs of intellectualization, the average person will only see the graphic visual and react accordingly. You can ignore them, but can you blame them? When you skewer sacred cows, not everyone will enjoy the barbeque.
2
I believe the writers and producers of this so-called play should be investigated by the FBI and the Secret Service for encouraging harm to the President of the United States. The play should stop and an investigation started immediately! Until its too late. Thank you.
Caesar fired the FBI chief. Thus the resurgence of this play.
By the way, wee you quoting Sean Spicer?
By the way, wee you quoting Sean Spicer?
6
I'm going to assume this is a joke.
7
The writer is Shakespeare and he died in 1616. The play is a dramatizations of actual events that happened in 44 BC. For all concerned parties: Julius Caesar is already dead.
14
This sounds like a must-see and I regret that Shakespeare in the Park is not convenient for me right now. I would like to gauge my own reaction instead of getting it second hand (from ANYBODY).
5
Interesting, very interesting. Must be studied further.
2
Too bad the Bard didn't write a play about Nero.
4
As a child, I once sat in the living room with my mom and dad. They were doing "Julius Caesar" on TV. Black and white, of course. A rehearsal--not the finished production. The actors wore street clothes. The director (an old man--don't ask me who) kept interrupting. Tips, suggestions--that sort of thing.
I was puzzled. I didn't get it. "Mom. . . .Dad," I kept asking. "Was Julius Caesar a good man? Was he a bad man? What are we supposed to think?" Ambiguity. I don't think children handle ambiguity very well. I didn't.
I don't think the Romans ever made up their minds about Caesar. They had a saying--"Better for Rome if he had never lived! Or--if he had never died."
One thing seems clear--and Shakespeare captures it to perfection. (Oh the genius of this man!) That is, Caesar's unconquerable, ineradicable sense of himself. His belief in "his star"--whatever you want to call it. "Have no fear!" he remarked to some sailor in the boat (as the storm clouds gathered)--"You carry Caesar--and the fortune of Caesar!"
And so Shakespeare's Caesar, after the famous lines spoken to Mark Antony--the lines about Cassius and his lean and hungry look--goes on.
"I rather tell thee what is to be feared
Than what I fear FOR ALWAYS I AM CAESAR . . . . .!"
Magnificent! Our country has not yet produced a Caesar. THAT kind of Caesar. The self-willed man of destiny. Not yet we haven't. Maybe we will. In which case. . . .
. .God help us!
I was puzzled. I didn't get it. "Mom. . . .Dad," I kept asking. "Was Julius Caesar a good man? Was he a bad man? What are we supposed to think?" Ambiguity. I don't think children handle ambiguity very well. I didn't.
I don't think the Romans ever made up their minds about Caesar. They had a saying--"Better for Rome if he had never lived! Or--if he had never died."
One thing seems clear--and Shakespeare captures it to perfection. (Oh the genius of this man!) That is, Caesar's unconquerable, ineradicable sense of himself. His belief in "his star"--whatever you want to call it. "Have no fear!" he remarked to some sailor in the boat (as the storm clouds gathered)--"You carry Caesar--and the fortune of Caesar!"
And so Shakespeare's Caesar, after the famous lines spoken to Mark Antony--the lines about Cassius and his lean and hungry look--goes on.
"I rather tell thee what is to be feared
Than what I fear FOR ALWAYS I AM CAESAR . . . . .!"
Magnificent! Our country has not yet produced a Caesar. THAT kind of Caesar. The self-willed man of destiny. Not yet we haven't. Maybe we will. In which case. . . .
. .God help us!
11
Delta and any other companies who walk to the drumbeat of the hateful politicians in charge. Its easy for me to channel my money into companies.who support my American ideas.
5
Exactly, all of us can support (or not) the corporations we wish, based on their behavior.
If it was me running a corporation, I would stay away from anything remotely decisive, unless of course, I want to choose a side, knowing full well I may gain or lose certain customers.
We all get to vote with our wallets!
If it was me running a corporation, I would stay away from anything remotely decisive, unless of course, I want to choose a side, knowing full well I may gain or lose certain customers.
We all get to vote with our wallets!
2
"May be the devil, and the devil hath power
T' assume a pleasing shape.
Yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds
More relative than this.
The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king."
Hamlet - Act II; scene ii
T' assume a pleasing shape.
Yea, and perhaps Out of my weakness and my melancholy, As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me. I’ll have grounds
More relative than this.
The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king."
Hamlet - Act II; scene ii
Just another example of how Trumpkins can dish it out, but can't take it.
9
If only the Trump who would be king had a conscience! In Shakespeare, murderers of kings are punished, and... some kings are murderers. We may "hope" ...yes, that word again, "hope..." we may hope that the "T" who would be king has any conscience. And, that our Congress shows both backbone and conscience. And... that he will be caught.
HAMLET:"I'll have grounds/ More relative than this—the play's the thing/ Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."(Hamlet Act 2, scene 2)
HAMLET:"I'll have grounds/ More relative than this—the play's the thing/ Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."(Hamlet Act 2, scene 2)
3
Just over 400 years since his death, this King of Entertainment lives on ...even in Central Park. As a thirteen year old I recall memorizing one of his far too many memorable speeches, this one attributed to Marc Antony. He asked his audience to "lend me your ears". In the many decades since, I have never thought that this involved an excision and reimplanting of anything. He wanted exclusive attention. Having stolen this clause, I used it in calmer child raising moment, seemin gly to good effect. My layman's view of Shakespeare is as a master painter with words. His canvas, once limited may now be measured in terabytes. Comments on Julius Caesar now being produced in Central Park suggests that some minds are figuratively awaiting the invention of manuscript and dyes. Pity.
Totally disgusting. This never would have been done with Obama. One would have been called racist in a heartbeat. The liberals are ruining what is left of the nation.
2
The article literally mentions in the *first* full paragraph that "[f]ive years ago, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis staged a production featuring the assassination of an Obama-esque Caesar by a group of right-wing conspirators."
10
"The chief danger to freedom of thought and speech ... is not the direct interference of … any official body. If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution but because they are frightened of public opinion. In this country intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face. … The sinister fact about literary censorship ... is that it is largely voluntary." George Orwell
How much are we not seeing or hearing because our cultural gatekeepers "are frightened of public opinion"?
The best art provokes, challenges, unsettles but when a centuries-old Shakespearean drama elicits this kind of response, you can be certain that our cultural gatekeepers tread very lightly, if at all, around sensitive topics. And, sadly, what is deemed "sensitive" seems to be growing daily as those on both the left and the right declare war whenever offended or threatened.
How much are we not seeing or hearing because our cultural gatekeepers "are frightened of public opinion"?
The best art provokes, challenges, unsettles but when a centuries-old Shakespearean drama elicits this kind of response, you can be certain that our cultural gatekeepers tread very lightly, if at all, around sensitive topics. And, sadly, what is deemed "sensitive" seems to be growing daily as those on both the left and the right declare war whenever offended or threatened.
7
"The best art provokes, challenges, unsettle."
That's one view of art, and it's strongly beatnik and Marxist/Russian Formalist. Plenty of great art does none of these things. John Singer Sargent is one of the finest painters ever to paint yet his art does none of those things. Nor do I think Jane Austen specializes in provoking, challenging, or unsettling. Furthermore, I wouldn't say that Mozart's The Magic Flute does those things, and The Magic Flute is sublime.
That's one view of art, and it's strongly beatnik and Marxist/Russian Formalist. Plenty of great art does none of these things. John Singer Sargent is one of the finest painters ever to paint yet his art does none of those things. Nor do I think Jane Austen specializes in provoking, challenging, or unsettling. Furthermore, I wouldn't say that Mozart's The Magic Flute does those things, and The Magic Flute is sublime.
Artists' alert! Keep doing your art, the REAL stuff. Let's not become the United States of "Art-ish!"
1
The apology tour continues! YET AGAIN, another example of had someone performed a play in Central Park that centred around the assassination of Obama, this newspaper would howl in outrage.
1
The Shakespeare Festival under Oskar Eustis considers content to be art. The Festival would rather produce politically "progressive" themed plays than a well written play that does not fit it's agenda. It has also become an elitist club of celebrities. By narrowly focusing their program on "progressive" politics, they have come up with a stupid, almost collegiate version of JCaesar. If they could have stepped back from their politics and just costumed Caesar as a normal politician - no red tie, no blonde wig - there would ever have been a controversy and the political comment would have been understood by the audiences. But progressive politics was more important. And they deserve all the negative attention they are getting. I've been going to the Festival since it opened. It used to be a great place to see a play, but under Eustis it's become the home of "victim" plays, generally well produced, but dreary. Maybe this is a time to reconsider your goals, Mr. Eustis, instead of defending yourself and going on the attack like the president with the red tie and blonde hair.
5
Trump is Orange Julius. Whatever happened to that stuff anyway?
5
I haven't seen the play but from what I've read it appears to be disrespectful of the office of the president and suggests, ala Kathy Griffin, that political assassination is somehow justified. I find the concept appalling.
HOWEVER, it's a play. I would think that most people who might attend a Shakespeare in the Park performance read the paper, most likely the NYT. If someone finds the idea of a Trump-like Caesar to be dismaying there is a rather simple solution. DON'T GO SEE IT.
Perhaps it's time for many of us, including the NYT, to get over the election results and stop all this foolishness and just be part of the loyal opposition. 2020 is coming faster than we seem to realize. Maybe we should be focused on that. Maybe we should be focused on rebuilding a DNC that actually lost an election to, of all people, Donald Trump!
HOWEVER, it's a play. I would think that most people who might attend a Shakespeare in the Park performance read the paper, most likely the NYT. If someone finds the idea of a Trump-like Caesar to be dismaying there is a rather simple solution. DON'T GO SEE IT.
Perhaps it's time for many of us, including the NYT, to get over the election results and stop all this foolishness and just be part of the loyal opposition. 2020 is coming faster than we seem to realize. Maybe we should be focused on that. Maybe we should be focused on rebuilding a DNC that actually lost an election to, of all people, Donald Trump!
11
Maybe you just need to read some Shakespeare. This play is well over 400 years old and Julius Caesar has been dying in that play each time it is performed over these 400 years.
1
Remarkable.
A society that barely funds the arts at all is ignorant of its own art.
The idea that any 16th century play written in a monarchical kingdom is "pro-regicide" is shockingly dumb.
A society that barely funds the arts at all is ignorant of its own art.
The idea that any 16th century play written in a monarchical kingdom is "pro-regicide" is shockingly dumb.
7
blah, blah, blah as all the nonsense about this julius caesar goes...the reduction of any play to an elbow-in-the-ribs "get it!?" speaks of the graduate thesis production, the grasp of a gimmick to substitute for the more difficult process of actually digging into the play...in a professional setting its speaks of an elitist hand on the shoulders of the basketed among us who need a guide to see the light...stay home, read it...the language is amazing, the use of it to make such a petty point is a disgrace....or go, see for yourself.
2
I wonde how the NYT readers would have reacted had a version been put ona few years ago in which an Obama-look alike was stabbed to death?
This is a silly idea on so many differnet grounds, not least that in the play Caesar/Trrump is regretted after his death as a noble, selfless leader
Idiots who think that Shakespeare has to be made gratingly 'relevant' by such hamfisted nonsense deserve everything that goes thrown at them, and more.
This is a silly idea on so many differnet grounds, not least that in the play Caesar/Trrump is regretted after his death as a noble, selfless leader
Idiots who think that Shakespeare has to be made gratingly 'relevant' by such hamfisted nonsense deserve everything that goes thrown at them, and more.
2
A few contrarian points, if I may:
The Guthrie production, featuring an "Obama-esque" Caesar never got as much attention back then as it does now that it is being trotted out to justify the Public's interpretation. We all know how convenient that is, but what exactly made it "Obama-esque," as this article put it? The simple fact that the Caesar character in that show was black? Someone is showing a lack of imagination, and possibly something worse, if that's all it took.
Indeed, most of the published critics are decrying the Public for its lack of interpretive imagination and nuance, not for staying true to the play's assassination scene. The Times is one of the few exceptions, both in its review and this piece cobbling together an Exhibit A. But why should we overlook that it is a direct funder of the show? They don't have the cash to keep their Public Editor anymore, it seems, but they can shower the Public Theater with Hallmark card headlines. It's not enough to defend a work of art only because your enemies didn't like it. And it isn't objective defense it you are a producer, even if de facto.
Finally, if you take money from a corporation, you work for that corporation. It doesn't matter under what guise, they pay you only as long as you please them. It isn't ideal, but that's the devil the Public chose to dance with. Many artists do Shakespeare without six-figure executive salaries & TV stars... they just don't merit attention.
Perhaps that's the real affront.
The Guthrie production, featuring an "Obama-esque" Caesar never got as much attention back then as it does now that it is being trotted out to justify the Public's interpretation. We all know how convenient that is, but what exactly made it "Obama-esque," as this article put it? The simple fact that the Caesar character in that show was black? Someone is showing a lack of imagination, and possibly something worse, if that's all it took.
Indeed, most of the published critics are decrying the Public for its lack of interpretive imagination and nuance, not for staying true to the play's assassination scene. The Times is one of the few exceptions, both in its review and this piece cobbling together an Exhibit A. But why should we overlook that it is a direct funder of the show? They don't have the cash to keep their Public Editor anymore, it seems, but they can shower the Public Theater with Hallmark card headlines. It's not enough to defend a work of art only because your enemies didn't like it. And it isn't objective defense it you are a producer, even if de facto.
Finally, if you take money from a corporation, you work for that corporation. It doesn't matter under what guise, they pay you only as long as you please them. It isn't ideal, but that's the devil the Public chose to dance with. Many artists do Shakespeare without six-figure executive salaries & TV stars... they just don't merit attention.
Perhaps that's the real affront.
1
Given the anesthetized subdural state to which we've devolved, I can easily understand why there isn't a thunder of outrage at this action by BoA and Delta. But this is as desultory and chilling headline as could stem from the arts in this desultory and chilling era.
While the history of art patronage is no white rose free of political intrigue, until only 80 years ago, patrons were beyond reproach, there was no means to influence their decision.
This is not true today, where the arts establishment and its everyday public can easily let their displeasure known by personal/institutional divestiture of the use of these companies, including the holding of their equity issues.
My household will be out of its BoA account by week's end and I will not fly Delta. There's plenty of other banks and airlines to use, and investments to make.
If there were solidarity among the like minded, our collective "field" usage of free speech would be effective to the purpose - to deny art (especially THIS canonical play, which has been staged controversially almost as a rule) and artists the ability to be society's mirror is the worst kind of tyranny to the conscience that a creative act can suffer.
While the history of art patronage is no white rose free of political intrigue, until only 80 years ago, patrons were beyond reproach, there was no means to influence their decision.
This is not true today, where the arts establishment and its everyday public can easily let their displeasure known by personal/institutional divestiture of the use of these companies, including the holding of their equity issues.
My household will be out of its BoA account by week's end and I will not fly Delta. There's plenty of other banks and airlines to use, and investments to make.
If there were solidarity among the like minded, our collective "field" usage of free speech would be effective to the purpose - to deny art (especially THIS canonical play, which has been staged controversially almost as a rule) and artists the ability to be society's mirror is the worst kind of tyranny to the conscience that a creative act can suffer.
5
The Left created this tempest in a teapot by being overly protective of President Obama, like he needed their paternalistic help. Although I'm sorry this production lost a few sponsors, the attention this gives to all the 'Shakespeare in the Park' actors out there nationwide, struggling through the June heat while bringing great storytelling to potentially anyone, is a net positive.
1
There are a lot more issues that unite us than the issues that divide us, and we all want a fair, just government. We need politicians who fight for the people, not against each other. We need a coordinated effort from both republicans and democrats to make government work again and are above party lines. Getting embroiled in arguments and outrageous portrayals of acts that undermine our democracy is not in line with our American values. We need more groups like "No Labels" that are fighting to make our government efficient again. https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-labels-calls-congress-heed-call-bipartisan...
2
Julius Caesar is not an historical figure to be revered even as he is the role model for any given strongman who raised himself to fame (or infamy). He was a scheming politician undermining the Roman republic; he was the perpetrator of a genocidal war in then France and he gambled with the Roman empire in crossing the Rubicon and waging civil war. His death was the logical consequence of his success. The people responsible for the new adaptation are to be forgiven to see some parallels here. Et tu, Jeff ?
4
This is simple - it's an anti-violence play, that laments political violence. Both sides have co opted a narrative of either this is liberal bias or pulling out of support is conservative bias. It's neither - it's free speech, and it's is against violence in the political sphere. Likewise, the decision to not support the play is free speech.
6
So now and within 6 months of Trump taking office we have a move to shut down the Shakespeare Festival. Dissent will not be tolerated!
Bravo Orson Welles! Bravo Shakespeare Festival!
Buh bye Delta and Bank America.....
Bravo Orson Welles! Bravo Shakespeare Festival!
Buh bye Delta and Bank America.....
16
Another failed boycott attempt by the far right. Would this production and its ties to Trump have received so much attention without their free advertising?
6
What boycott? Two sponsors backed out. The more people talk about it the more people will go. Good for The Public, more people more $$$ for their coffers.
2
1
This adaptation is in poor taste and does nothing to promote civil discourse or peaceful creative resolution. What this does do, however, is shamelessly sell tickets, pander to a mob mentality, and grab headlines. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is not art. If you want to really learn about ancient Rome and draw your own conclusions and parallels read something like "Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome."
13
There is no poor taste, or good taste when dealing with the truth. Trump is a predator of the people, a thieving and conniving liar, who is dividing and destroying all that is sacred to the very essence of democracy.
This adaptation is fully in its creative and political rights to depict Trump in such a light, and the corporations pulling their support are acquiescent cowards caving to the fascist tantrum of Trump's spineless son, et al.
Trump doesn't deserve to be compared with Julius Caesar, because Trump is a mere rat.
This adaptation is fully in its creative and political rights to depict Trump in such a light, and the corporations pulling their support are acquiescent cowards caving to the fascist tantrum of Trump's spineless son, et al.
Trump doesn't deserve to be compared with Julius Caesar, because Trump is a mere rat.
4
Tickets are free of charge.
5
Brush up your Shakespear.
3
Shakespeare? SHAKESPEARE? They are going after Shakespeare now. There have been many many takes on Shakespearean plays and the decapitated head is part of the deal. Free speech should never be compromised.
8
Sometimes Performance Art is the best art. Kudos to Mr. Cooper in bringing up Orson Welles. Let us not forget Chaplin's depiction of Hitler.
It is up to our artists in motion pictures, music, theater and painters to instruct the public If the media and our Congress have failed.
It is up to our artists in motion pictures, music, theater and painters to instruct the public If the media and our Congress have failed.
7
This incident shows two things....
*how Shakespeare is one of the great playwrights of human history that many of his plays are transcendent and speak to both the angels and demons of the human condition.
*that we continue to defund public education at our peril...the ignorance on display is just one result of a population that does not understand (or does not care to understand) what Julius Caesar is trying to portray and say.
The death spiral into the abyss continues...where is Rod Serling when you need him?
*how Shakespeare is one of the great playwrights of human history that many of his plays are transcendent and speak to both the angels and demons of the human condition.
*that we continue to defund public education at our peril...the ignorance on display is just one result of a population that does not understand (or does not care to understand) what Julius Caesar is trying to portray and say.
The death spiral into the abyss continues...where is Rod Serling when you need him?
8
Too much navel gazing.! This production was intended to damage the duly elected POTUS in any way possible at minimum cost (red paint etc. ). I expect it will receive a Tony or something from one or more of the usual hangers on.
6
The so called SCPotus is damaging himself quite nicely without any help.
5
What message does Bank of America/Merrill Lynch send to their customers when they will fund a private event like Trump's inauguration with $100K (same Trump who has endorsed Alex Jones's Info Wars theories as well as mocked Mexicans and people with disabilities) then withdraw funding from a play that mocks Trump.. from where I stand it's blatantly angling to curry favors with the administration that it wants Dodd Frank repealed at all costs.. along the way they will lose me as a customer.
The sanctimonious hypocrisy of the "progressive" left is absolutely breathtaking. In 2013, a rodeo clown in Nebraska wore a President Obama mask and the world came to an end. He was fired, had to go to sensitivity training, the Washington Post thundered that this proved racism in American was alive and well etc (Google this yourselves - you can't make this stuff up). In 2017, a production of Julius Caesar depicts a Donald Trump look alike being stabbed in a gory scene, and the progressives declaim about artistic freedom and freedom of expression. They will fight to the death for one's right to agree with them and their agenda
10
The worry: monkey see, monkey do.
Presenting Trump as Caesar shows questionable judgment and taste. For one thing, there is general agreement among people who know this play that Caesar is not portrayed negatively in it. He is a man who has refused kingship and who has--according to Anthony-- real sympathy for the poor. Caesar was a man of great military and political accomplishments. He was not a fool. He was not a narcissist. He was not a loud-mouth or a braggart. He did not conspire with enemies of the state he led for his own gain. The subordinates he chose were able (if not all loyal). The is no reason to believe that when he dealt with foreign leaders, they smirked and smiled behind their hands. Just how the creators of this production could shoe-horn Julius Caesar into a Trump suit leaves me at a loss for words, almost. Either they are hopelessly stupid and should stay away from plays of this complexity, or by perverting the meaning of the play they are looking for a sensation that will sell tickets. In other words they are either fools or knaves.
7
"Either they are hopelessly stupid and should stay away from plays of this complexity, or by perverting the meaning of the play they are looking for a sensation that will sell tickets. In other words they are either fools or knaves."
All of the above... Children playing at being adults...
All of the above... Children playing at being adults...
If the Ceasar character had in 2009 been an Obama lookalike the Times and all the lefty hypocrits would have been in high dungeon calling the play "racist" and for its immediate closure.
Recall the State Fair rodeo clown in MO fired for wearing an Obama mask, as he had done with Reagan and Bush masks. He was summarily fired. The Times cheered.
Recall the State Fair rodeo clown in MO fired for wearing an Obama mask, as he had done with Reagan and Bush masks. He was summarily fired. The Times cheered.
5
There was a production just like that. No one freaked out.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Delta-Sponsored-2012-Guthrie-Theate...
http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Delta-Sponsored-2012-Guthrie-Theate...
3
Delta Airlines and Bank of America withdrew their sponsorship of this vicious political trash citing the reason that it was inconsistent with their values. Even more notable is that the NYT decided to continue to sponsor this production thereby once and for all and proving that the value system of the Editorial Board and the editors is truly being portrayed by this version of Julius Caesar!!!!
5
I find it laughable that Bank of America is pulling out of supporting an artistic endeavor because they feel it is too political and suggestive of violence but somehow they feel that bank rolling the Dakota Access Pipeline where hundreds of Native Americans were brutalized by thugs in uniforms and millions of people now have their drinking water in jeopardy is just a-ok. Hypocrisy at its best.
This is not art. Its a thinly veiled incitement to assassination by a community that has lost all proportion, and frankly, its moral compass. Time and again we have watched left wing governments begin with high minded ideals and quickly degrade to inflicting detention, torture and murder on anyone who disagrees with them. We've always thought that these are the type of things that happen in other less developed countries. But just read these blogs and watch the news and you can see our own intellectuals devolving into rabid hatred.
This play is not art, it fantasy murder for political purposes. And what is really galling, is that it is being funded by my tax dollars.
This play is not art, it fantasy murder for political purposes. And what is really galling, is that it is being funded by my tax dollars.
7
Oakwood, it is not the play that is at fault... The play itself as written and properly produced is one the most wonderful examples of art that one could envision... It's the puerile and hateful interpretation -- the twisted spinning -- of the play that is the "foul deed...[that] shall smell above the earth..."
Brutus and his buddies were The Resistance.....
Who might Mark Antony be????
Who might Mark Antony be????
3
Mike Pence: I.came to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
1
We live in different times. Back in my day, John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" was pulled from theaters after the assassination of JFK. I do not see that happening today. Indeed we do live in different times.
Today when teenagers, mostly male, can spend hours in the comfort of their parents living rooms playing video games which show expose the young to more bloodshed and carnage then one can imagine does anyone really believe that today's youth will be shocked and awed by not only viewing the current version of "Julius Caesar" at the Delacort but watching an actual assassination on CNN? I doubt it very much.
During the the Sixties, following JFK, Dylan wrote "The Times They Are A-Changing". They are, and they have. We live in vastly different times. Get used to it.
DD
Manhattan
Today when teenagers, mostly male, can spend hours in the comfort of their parents living rooms playing video games which show expose the young to more bloodshed and carnage then one can imagine does anyone really believe that today's youth will be shocked and awed by not only viewing the current version of "Julius Caesar" at the Delacort but watching an actual assassination on CNN? I doubt it very much.
During the the Sixties, following JFK, Dylan wrote "The Times They Are A-Changing". They are, and they have. We live in vastly different times. Get used to it.
DD
Manhattan
5
Why is this news? Why are we forced ONLY to concentrate on trivialities?
Shame on Delta Airlines. Shame on Bank of America. Not for their withdrawing of funds, which is a symptom, a symptom of a lack of respect for the intelligence and emotional maturity of the American people. Here we single them out, but this lack of respect seems typical of American corporate culture. They've become "social engineers" and worse, telling us what we should and shouldn't watch or hear. The corporate "experts" are telling us how we should watch and read Shakespeare. Folks, this is not much ado about nothing.
30
rjon, there is such a thing called free will, you are free to take in a show at The Public, these corporate sponsors have a choice they decided NOT to fund this particular event they are still corporate sponsors of The Public Theatre. Please don't blame Delta of BofA to make your decision for you.
2
Boycott Delta
2
Don't forget Marlon Brando as Anthony in the movie "Julius Caesar."
It is not some reinterpretation to see the play as about contemporary politics. The play was written as commentary on Elizabethan politics. Shakespeare avoided losing his sponsors by placing the play in ancient Rome but his play was exactly about how his contemporaries should respond to tyranny.
Moreover, the play expressly is on the side of the tyrant! Shakespeare's whole message is that things can get worse instead of better if you depose that tyrant. You'd think the far right wing media would be supporting this production.
Moreover, the play expressly is on the side of the tyrant! Shakespeare's whole message is that things can get worse instead of better if you depose that tyrant. You'd think the far right wing media would be supporting this production.
4
Art is supposed to affect you somehow. It can be moving, offending or even be repulsive, but it should leave you with the feeling that it added to your life experience. I'm appalled by 'sponsors of the art' pulling their support because they are afraid to be associated with something that will upset some of their consumers. In this case there is a political undertone (or one might argue an overtone) that makes this sponsor abandonment reek very much like censorship.
5
I saw the touring Guthrie production with the Obama-like figure. We all felt how real the danger was for a black man in the presidency. Theater definitely illuminates our time.
6
It might be worthwhile remembering that Julius Caesar in the play was slain by his one-time friends, not by his enemies.
27
Good point!
1
I recall seeing a play in the late 60s call Macbird which was a rendition of Macbeth with Lyndon Johnson in the lead role. Johnson of course was both the architect of the very liberal leaning Great Society and the intensification of the Vietnam War. He was also the only president to not run for office again because of the nature of our democracy, which seemed split down the middle by his very presence in the White House. At that time as a liberal I was vehemently opposed to his presidency.
I've always understood most of my democratic and liberal friends to worry most about the assault on democracy by our government, whether led by democrat or republican leaders. Julius Caesar is the epitome of that concern. But it seems that my friends on the right see outrage in any view contrary to their own. They would easily pursue forms of censorship to help maintain their world view. By withdrawing funding, Delta and Bank of America are supporting that view.
I've always understood most of my democratic and liberal friends to worry most about the assault on democracy by our government, whether led by democrat or republican leaders. Julius Caesar is the epitome of that concern. But it seems that my friends on the right see outrage in any view contrary to their own. They would easily pursue forms of censorship to help maintain their world view. By withdrawing funding, Delta and Bank of America are supporting that view.
9
If Presidential spawn Donald J Trump JR is so concerned about tax payers dollars, then he and his overrated family should reimburse the treasure for the secret service protection they receive when they travel on Trump family business.
The last time I checked, they are not conducting US business so the cost of secret service protection should be REIMBURSED to the American tax payer.
The last time I checked, they are not conducting US business so the cost of secret service protection should be REIMBURSED to the American tax payer.
12
Shakespeare's Caesar has had a political tinge from the beginning. But I don't think the play advocates assassination of Trump; it simply records the fall of those who would aspire to unbridled power (which Trump certainly hasn't achieved for all his bluster). In that sense this production is an allegory, not a call to action.
Bank of America and Delta are foolish to withdraw, and that has its perils too. I withdrew from B of A decades ago for their business practices. Delta doesn't have a place on their website for my objections to their action, but I can (and will) vote with my feet. I only use Delta to fly between Florida and New York. Jet Blue provides a good alternative.
Bank of America and Delta are foolish to withdraw, and that has its perils too. I withdrew from B of A decades ago for their business practices. Delta doesn't have a place on their website for my objections to their action, but I can (and will) vote with my feet. I only use Delta to fly between Florida and New York. Jet Blue provides a good alternative.
11
It is unacceptable, artistic license or not, to toy with or insinuate the assassination of and attempted assassination of a sitting president by actually portraying them in the guise of art. From Lincoln, to JFK, to Reagan regardless of which political side you are on, we are all Americans first. Why not choose to make Julius Putin-like or Kim Jong un-like instead? There are plenty of other artistic adaptations to select. Anyone who attends a Shakespeare play should be sophisticated enough one would hope to make the intellectual leap and connection to our own contemporary lives without hitting them over the head with a shovel.
4
Garry, I hope you felt the same way in 2012 about the Obama inspired production. I don't recall anyone making a fuss then.
5
He, like many people may not have had knowledge of the 2012 production. It is always a little dangerous to suggest the assassination of a sitting president, especially in such polarized times.
4
Well, in the case of Trump, you should look to Moliere instead of Shakespeare.
And what if a play was planned for central park that featured Senator Robert Byrd and his Klu Klux Klan colleagues in white Klan garb performing a horrific hanging of Barack Obama around the time of Benghazi terror horror?
Free speech, artistic license and political freedom would best be accompanied by a keen sense of civic responsibility. Unstable mentally ill persons can be triggered toward violence. Remember John Lennon's killer ("Catcher in the Rye"and Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination ("Taxi Driver's" Jodie Foster)? Responsibility goes beyond a blurb in the play's brochure.
Free speech, artistic license and political freedom would best be accompanied by a keen sense of civic responsibility. Unstable mentally ill persons can be triggered toward violence. Remember John Lennon's killer ("Catcher in the Rye"and Ronald Reagan's attempted assassination ("Taxi Driver's" Jodie Foster)? Responsibility goes beyond a blurb in the play's brochure.
5
"Unstable mentally ill persons.."
...can get to be president if marketed slickly.
...can get to be president if marketed slickly.
5
The message that 99% of the people get loud and clear is that Donald Trump should be assassinated. Plain and simple! The vast majority of people don't understand Shakespeare or appreciate the value of the Arts. The very few that have such knowledge, comprehension, insight, vision and dedication are to be applauded, encouraged and valued. Their long term goal of promoting and perpetuating the Arts is a unquestioned, absolutely essential and noble one, which will be cherished by future generations. For virtually the entire madding crowd at Central Park, who are merely out for a night of free entertainment and thought Julius was the founder of a pizza chain, the blood and violence only exacerbate a turbulent, incendiary situation. Via the mass media frenzy, the thousands of hapless, warped, would-be assassins on the fringe will only see the bloody savagery and react in ways that are incomprehensible to responsible and rational people. Of course, if the media had ignored this abomination, the number of potential assassins would be negligible. Methinks the agitators of Shakespeare in The Park "doth protest too much". They were salaciously seeking the publicity for many selfish reasons; defending the Arts may have been one of them but I suspect destroying the President for political reasons was very close the top of the list. "Et tu, Brute"!
"Et tu, Brute"!
"Et tu, Brute"!
8
Gee are you stating publicly that Trump supporters do not have the intellectual capacity to understand Shakespeare?
4
Increasingly I am confused about what is/is not politically correct.
5
I saw the show on Sunday. It is brilliant and terrifying, as it should be. The parallels to Trump are there in the text. (My favorite detail? The orangish toupee. Caesar was bald and notoriously vain about it. -- Sound like anyone we know?)
What upsets me most is that few of the people who are railing against this production have not seen it. Pocketbook censorship and censorship by directive is even more appalling than our current presidency.
What upsets me most is that few of the people who are railing against this production have not seen it. Pocketbook censorship and censorship by directive is even more appalling than our current presidency.
59
The favorite parts you cite are not in the text, which you claim to defer to. The Public also altered that text to underscore its vision. Only one line, but it was garish enough to get quoted in the coverage more than any line Shakespeare himself actually wrote.
That few of those railing against the production have not seen it, as you say, suggests that most of those railing have. I don't think that's what you meant to imply, but you can't possibly know one way or the other.
Shakespeare frequently railed against the lack of humility. Julius Caesar seems to be an example of that, in all respects here: play, production, and commentary.
That few of those railing against the production have not seen it, as you say, suggests that most of those railing have. I don't think that's what you meant to imply, but you can't possibly know one way or the other.
Shakespeare frequently railed against the lack of humility. Julius Caesar seems to be an example of that, in all respects here: play, production, and commentary.
It hasn't been a particularly good time for the anti-Trump forces. We're barely recovered from the shock of Kathy Griffith holding up that severed Trump head. Naturally Griffith played the victim as she started babbling on and on incoherently that it was all Donald Trump's fault -- Trump and his evil family had gotten into her head which forced her to do what she did. Now we're on to a new controversy surrounding Julius Caesar in which the title character bears a striking resemblance to the current resident in the White House. Coincidence? No way.
The really strange thing is that the Roman Senate was actually considering granting Julius Caesar more power before the knives came out. I always thought the real villain of the story was Cassius (described as has having that lean and hungry look). Could it be that Cassius was power hungry and Julius Caesar was all that stood in his way?
Too bad that Caesar didn't listen to the soothsayer's warning to Beware The Ides of March.
The really strange thing is that the Roman Senate was actually considering granting Julius Caesar more power before the knives came out. I always thought the real villain of the story was Cassius (described as has having that lean and hungry look). Could it be that Cassius was power hungry and Julius Caesar was all that stood in his way?
Too bad that Caesar didn't listen to the soothsayer's warning to Beware The Ides of March.
5
Just imagine what would have happened if Shakespeare had gone in for non-traditional casting and put a Queen Elizabeth I clone in the role. "Off with his head!"
After seeing that cabinet meeting where the secretaries adulate their boss, King Lear might work too.
17
Lear, in the end, was a sympathetic figure. Realized, and repented his error and was made to suffer terribly for it.
I think a lot of posters are right when they think more in terms of "Richard III"
I think a lot of posters are right when they think more in terms of "Richard III"
7
Lear's error was dividing his kingdom and perhaps misreading Cordelia's silence. Bothe Regan and Goneril were somewhat disloyal to their father, but mostly they just wanted him to truly step down (and not keep a small army of personal guard). Neither daughter was a good person, but nothing in KL suggests that either would be a bad leader. All their badness is contained to the family drama of the play.
Lear's single biggest mistake was banishing Kent, his one insightful advisor.
Richard III has nothing to do with the current political situation. At this point, you're just naming plays by Shakespeare. You might as well say that Theseus in MSND was a tyrant who abused his power.
Lear's single biggest mistake was banishing Kent, his one insightful advisor.
Richard III has nothing to do with the current political situation. At this point, you're just naming plays by Shakespeare. You might as well say that Theseus in MSND was a tyrant who abused his power.
1
It would be more apt to ask what the NYTimes wine and cheese crowd would have said about a production at the Delacorte of O'Neill's "The Emperor Jones" during Obama's presidency? Such a production of an Obama-like dictator who is ultimately assassinated would have ruffled their feathers and caused unceasing outrage.
This "Julius Caesar" is political propaganda that not only crosses the lines of decency but also incites violence. It is incendiary and no matter what one thinks about President Trump, he is our President and should not be portrayed in such a fashion that could arouse the worst instincts among the more feeble minded and lame in our society.
This "Julius Caesar" is political propaganda that not only crosses the lines of decency but also incites violence. It is incendiary and no matter what one thinks about President Trump, he is our President and should not be portrayed in such a fashion that could arouse the worst instincts among the more feeble minded and lame in our society.
9
You believe that a Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar could inspire an actual assassination attempt? You can't be serious. Let's just ban all art during Trump's reign to avoid any possibility of offense.
15
Yes, I agree. Let the book burnings begin. Dear leader and his minions will tell us what to think - so much easier for us all, yes?
BTW - conveniently forgotten: all the hideous things said about, and portrayals of, President Obama - including a poster of him with a bullet-hole in his forehead.
BTW - conveniently forgotten: all the hideous things said about, and portrayals of, President Obama - including a poster of him with a bullet-hole in his forehead.
Was it political propaganda in 2012 when the Caesar character was Obama inspired? The same hand wringers and pearl clutchers who claim that this incites violence sure were quiet when the violence incited would have been against Obama. But sure it's about respecting the president's office. Sure, Jan.
Typical NYT drivel putting lipstick on a pig and justifying the unjustifiable.
The play glorifies the disgusting visceral murder of a sitting President, thinly disguised as Shakespeare, thinking it is "art." It's not. It's stupid disgusting and dangerous propaganda. And it's ineffective.
The left has no message other than rage and all things anti-Trump. It is here because it has not won in the space of public ideas. And it can no longer say anything coherent, so it goes violent.
The sane narrative is being lost. Whatever may be negative about PDT is being lost in the lies and hysterical acts of the now crazy anti-Trump desperate losers. There is nothing but nihilism here. On a par with ISIS. And it's being received in the same way by the general public. Revulsion and rejection.
This article would like you to consider all the words it has put together to sound "decent" and "relevant." It's still about the thinly disguised visceral murder of a sitting President.
The play glorifies the disgusting visceral murder of a sitting President, thinly disguised as Shakespeare, thinking it is "art." It's not. It's stupid disgusting and dangerous propaganda. And it's ineffective.
The left has no message other than rage and all things anti-Trump. It is here because it has not won in the space of public ideas. And it can no longer say anything coherent, so it goes violent.
The sane narrative is being lost. Whatever may be negative about PDT is being lost in the lies and hysterical acts of the now crazy anti-Trump desperate losers. There is nothing but nihilism here. On a par with ISIS. And it's being received in the same way by the general public. Revulsion and rejection.
This article would like you to consider all the words it has put together to sound "decent" and "relevant." It's still about the thinly disguised visceral murder of a sitting President.
12
Frankly, it's doing the opposite of "glorifying." Shakespeare did not depict the death of Julius Caesar as a good thing, and the people who carry it out are not painted in a positive light.
One reading of the play itself is proof of that.
One reading of the play itself is proof of that.
1
We had a name for something similar a few years ago: Obama Derangement Syndrome. Before that it was Clinton Derangement Syndrome.
Touché.
Touché.
1
I feel confident that Shakespeare would approve of this production's contemporary spin on the consequences of misused power. Why? Let me count the ways - travel ban, Comey firing, Bannon, cabinet brown-nosing, NATO, brown-nosing Saudis, ad nauseum. More to come.
I'm disappointed that B of A and Delta can't see the dramatic validity.
I'm disappointed that B of A and Delta can't see the dramatic validity.
10
MaryT, what makes you believe that Shakespeare would approve of this spin? I mean, what evidence do you have for that claim? Which of Shakespeare's characters are punished for misuse of authority? Most are punished for the usurpation of authority. I think we want Shakespeare to be a lot more liberal than he really was. We applaud him for being a feminist, but he was writing during the reign of a queen. Perhaps he wrote strong female characters mainly to ingratiate himself with the ruling female monarch. Scholars describe his later plays (after 1603) as exhibiting some degree of misogyny. IS it coincidental that his plays started to exhibit some misogyny after a man (James) ascended to throne of England?
4
And a man (James) who shunned the company of women and surrounded himself with men who, like himself, were gay or at least bi-sexual.
1
Martin, what's your point? Not every moment of existence is about identity.
Sometimes, a play is just a play, is just a play.
Conceived by its Artistic Director, it takes the course the Captain of this ship has set it upon. Let the play, and its myriad interpretations, take us, the audience, whichever way the the winds blow. Let it provoke us with enough thoughts, that upon exiting, will provide us with an evening, and perhaps beyond, of discussion.
What's it all about, Alfie. That is what any Art worth its salt should do.
Lower the lights, and let the play begin.
DD
Manhattan
Conceived by its Artistic Director, it takes the course the Captain of this ship has set it upon. Let the play, and its myriad interpretations, take us, the audience, whichever way the the winds blow. Let it provoke us with enough thoughts, that upon exiting, will provide us with an evening, and perhaps beyond, of discussion.
What's it all about, Alfie. That is what any Art worth its salt should do.
Lower the lights, and let the play begin.
DD
Manhattan
17
This production received a $100,000 grant from the NEA. The Public Theater has received millions from the NEA over the years. The Trump administration has proposed eliminating the NEA, perhaps shifting the funding of arts to a less Leftist organization. This production is either a way for the NEA to slit its own throat or to give Trump the middle finger.
3
"When everyone's in white togas, there's just not a lot of context there..Making those choices to have it in contemporary clothes, I think, illuminates Shakespeare's play." Oh really? Shakespeare's PLAY illuminates Shakespeare's play! Why don't these wildly imaginative directors take the time to actually read the text? The brilliance and prescience and commercial savvy of The Bard having Cassius speak of their lofty bloody ritual being acted over "in states unborn and accents yet unknown", speaks for itself. Must it all be dumbed down into topical "relevance"?? (P.S. And or another view of Orson Welle's legendary production, look up Mary McCarthy's 1938 review.)
The Wells and McCarthy, no Togas versions good. This version bad? The second portion of your comment contradicts the first.
2
The four centuries that have passed since this play was written has not rendered it a hoary, pointless work of art. When will we wipe our swords clean of treacherous blood for the last time?
3
Interesting idea, but Julius Caesar is totally the wrong play.
Try Caligula.
Try Caligula.
7
Let's see: all those folks protesting this production are exactly the same ones who rose up in protest when Trump the Candidate was suggesting the assassination of Obama and Clinton. Not? My My! Sauce for the goose but you leave my gander alone. The controversy does sort of suggest the continuing power of Shakespeare, through. Surely an orange-haired "Macbeth" must be in the works. And how about an orange-haired Lear descending into madness and ceding his power to offspring and their spouses. In "Othello" perhaps the title character and Iago could both be wearing orange wigs. Of course, there are lots of Fools in Shakespeare, but his fools are generally wise.
10
Boycott Delta and B of A...this is Shakespeare and your behavior is doltish...
A further thought: As far as can be seen, Conservatives are complaining about this production, and that's about all they're doing, while directors seem to think that even such complaints are an infringement on their own First Amendment rights (the Conservatives apparently don't enjoy such rights from what the overrated Mr. Kushner has to say). But, how many thousands of marchers, bloggers, Union Square Post-it posters, defenders of the First Amendment, etc. would be out there doing their thing if this Central Park production used Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Nelson Mandela or (God forbid!) Martin Luther King for their assassination target? As Mark Antony says, "I pause for a reply." But I think the silence will remain deafening. Some 55 years back I saw the first-ever Shakespeare-in-the-Park production, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, with George C. Scott as Shylock. No modern dress, no special directorial concepts, no political considerations, etc. - just a great performance of a great-if-controversial play. Why do I recall it so vividly after 55 years? Will anyone recall this production of JULIUS CAESAR in 55 days? Damn, that silence really is deafening!
4
The Guthrie Theatre did just that, with Obama as Caesar, apparently with little notice or incident at the time. This is discussed in the article that your read? At length.
13
Indeed,
OK to do it to other political figures but not to Trump.
People really don't care about hypocrisy, double standards or the rule of law anymore....that is the scary thing.
OK to do it to other political figures but not to Trump.
People really don't care about hypocrisy, double standards or the rule of law anymore....that is the scary thing.
4
The Guthrie Theater is in Minneapolis, so it's no wonder no one took much notice of it. This is a free production in Central Park. There really is a reason why no one objected to the Obama Caesar; not many people ever heard of it. I certainly didn't. But for the record, I would be just as much against a play assassinating a visual image of Obama as I am against this one. It is really a horrendous concept of what constitutes First Amendment rights. Just because someone CAN do something is no good reason why they SHOULD do something!
It would have been better if Brutus was more trumpian and Caesar was more Obamalike. It would make the righties joyful, and educated people would see trump killing the republic.
The uneducated right would be high-fiving, the educated right would keep a stiff upper lip and grin through it, and the educated left would have yet another opportunity to feel superior.
A win-win-win.
The uneducated right would be high-fiving, the educated right would keep a stiff upper lip and grin through it, and the educated left would have yet another opportunity to feel superior.
A win-win-win.
The theater, like all forms of art, always has its patron's. Sometime the patronage is beneficent to the public intellectual good. Other times it is vacuous and self-serving in its support. The rise of the Corporate State and its concomitant "commitment" to the Arts sometimes falls into the latter category.
In the latter instance you really don't think they're providing the support for the public good do you? Delta removing themselves from this play betrays a decided lack of temerity, there's no question about that. But what do you expect of a patron concerned more with their bottom line than with honoring the precepts associated with intellectually rigorous, even radical, art?
Where profit is concerned the Corporate State, an ever looming presence in our society these days, thinks little of such precepts. They're only interested in the "popular" pap that maximizes their self-interest, and nothing more. Granted this is not always the case, but if you are seeking such patronage you need recognize that it is more the rule than the exception. All patron's demand favor in one form or another. Delta's cowardice is proof of this.
John~
American Net'Zen
In the latter instance you really don't think they're providing the support for the public good do you? Delta removing themselves from this play betrays a decided lack of temerity, there's no question about that. But what do you expect of a patron concerned more with their bottom line than with honoring the precepts associated with intellectually rigorous, even radical, art?
Where profit is concerned the Corporate State, an ever looming presence in our society these days, thinks little of such precepts. They're only interested in the "popular" pap that maximizes their self-interest, and nothing more. Granted this is not always the case, but if you are seeking such patronage you need recognize that it is more the rule than the exception. All patron's demand favor in one form or another. Delta's cowardice is proof of this.
John~
American Net'Zen
1
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Trump, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Trump. The noble Comey
Hath told you Trump was a liar:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Trump answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Comey and the rest–
For Comey is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Trump's funeral.
I come to bury Trump, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Trump. The noble Comey
Hath told you Trump was a liar:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Trump answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Comey and the rest–
For Comey is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men–
Come I to speak in Trump's funeral.
4
it is troubling that a major work of art that has withstood hundreds of years is yet again being seen as disturbing by the ones who resemble the characters involved.
the ones trying to stifle a thought provoking play are the same anti-first amendment haters who are trying to suppress any news (the Washington Post and the NY Times, in particular) that keeps bringing to light all the lies said by that the current White House.
the longer mr. comb-over stays in office the longer we will see any and all matters of free speech and art being suppressed by those who wish to curry favor with a small minded man who is offended by his own reflection in art (should they lose favor with his administration) and who wants to shut out all those annoying FACTS that keep the media correctly contradicts as lies.
he keeps on spewing alternative facts hoping the hoi polloi will hopefully believe hime (BELIEVE ME!) if he repeats them enough times.
the ones trying to stifle a thought provoking play are the same anti-first amendment haters who are trying to suppress any news (the Washington Post and the NY Times, in particular) that keeps bringing to light all the lies said by that the current White House.
the longer mr. comb-over stays in office the longer we will see any and all matters of free speech and art being suppressed by those who wish to curry favor with a small minded man who is offended by his own reflection in art (should they lose favor with his administration) and who wants to shut out all those annoying FACTS that keep the media correctly contradicts as lies.
he keeps on spewing alternative facts hoping the hoi polloi will hopefully believe hime (BELIEVE ME!) if he repeats them enough times.
Of course the right cheered the 2012 version when an Obama like Caesar was killed. The whole tempest is yet another example of the right's hypocrisy and its different standard for black and white presidents. The last isn't a surprise though as the election of Trump has revealed the milky white all Southern GOP for the racist party it is.
4
For Shakespeare, regicide was the worst crime imaginable. I believe that Dante felt the same way. Consider the fates of all the characters in Shakespeare who are guilty of regicide. Their lives don't end well. Lear abdicated his kingship, and look what happened to him. Shakespeare put the unity of nation before the needs of the individual. Division of the nation (especially through regicide) was the worst thing imaginable. Shakespeare's message is clear: Regicide is a crowning sin. Every character who commits regicide or who benefits from it dies or goes insane and then dies. There is pretty much one big rule in Shakespeare: Don't kill the king.
25
It's an Orange Julius.
12
A number of readers have asked why a depiction of an Obama-like Caesar being assassinated onstage at the Guthrie didn't raise such a controversy. Fox News and Breitbart are always ready and waiting to find a spark to light their fire of outrage, and their audience is happy to fan that flame, to the degree of ignoring their own hypocrisy. If Rachel Maddow or Stephen Colbert had provoked such a stir about the Guthrie production the Right would be telling everyone to just calm down, it's simply free speech. But reasonable minds tend to prevail on the Left, are less likely to take offense or be hypersensitive to criticism, and realize that free artistic expression is important and we shouldn't shut down everything that angers us.
4
I can just imagine the howls of outrage if there was a new production of Macbeth with a Hillary Clinton look alike cast in the role of Lady Macbeth,
3
Barack and Michelle Obama were featured as terrorists in the White House on a New Yorker cover. They were deeply hurt by it and I agree it was over the top but it was defended as free speech. Interpretation of Shakespeare is free speech also. Enough said. Let's look at what great freedoms this country affords us as protestors are arrested in Russia and Venezuela, as gay men are publicly flogged in Indonesia and Turkey gives away their freedoms to a growing dictatorship. As a veteran I couldn't be more proud to defend this freedom of expression.
87
Indeed,
The right can rail against freedom of speech on campus which the ACLU has agreed with...but it when it comes to the Public Theater doing a modern day Julius Caesar with negative implications for Trump well that is another story.
This play has been adapted many time to many political landscapes...this is just a case of suppression of free speech,,,plain and simple.
The Age of Trump...the hypocrisy and corruption just never stops.
The right can rail against freedom of speech on campus which the ACLU has agreed with...but it when it comes to the Public Theater doing a modern day Julius Caesar with negative implications for Trump well that is another story.
This play has been adapted many time to many political landscapes...this is just a case of suppression of free speech,,,plain and simple.
The Age of Trump...the hypocrisy and corruption just never stops.
4
O Judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts.
And men have lost their reason! JC III, ii
And men have lost their reason! JC III, ii
22
No one is saying The Public can't perform it, two major sponsors backed out that is all.
1
When we start attacking the arts for making us uncomfortable which is one of its main purposes, we are attacking a core principle of democracy--our freedom of expression. Anyone who reads Robert Harris's brilliant historical novel "Dictator," will immediately realize the relevance of the Roman Republic in the era of Caesar, Cicero, and Augustus Caesar to our current political situation. Shakespeare has eternal and immortal things to say and lessons to ponder, and good art makes us face those issues. If people are upset, then the new production of "Julius Caesar" is doing what Shakespeare and before him the ancient Greeks intended. We must only open our minds, listen, and think.
5
"Attacking the arts" is a part of free speech and so is staging a provocative play. Eustis is seemingly everywhere now proclaiming that criticism and the withdrawal of private sponsors are blows to democracy when they actually are not. Contrary to his beliefs, no one is required to accept his play, people can reject his play for any reason, and sponsors can fund or withdraw funding for any reason. Eustis has an unrealistic take on free speech.
Lynn in DC By "free speech" we're talking about censorship; the same things conservatives were screaming about when Berkeley students kept Ann Coulter from speaking on campus.
1
If you think it's in poor taste, don't go see it. Or fund it. But it's depressing that the objections depend on a misreading of the play.
6
I'll quote one other great artist and dramatist and poet: GARCIA LORCA: "
“The artist, and particularly the poet, is always an anarchist in the best sense of the word. He must heed only the call that arises within him from three strong voices: the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art.” Shakespeare's plays are considered art, and classics-- because they speak to all the ages, before-- and now, and to all perspectives and to multiple interpretations. We need such a mind and such a heart now--more than ever before, as Trump-landia tries to suffocate our minds, and our souls. May art, and theatre, and its integrity stand up now to delta, and to BOA, and to any who would try to keep it silent.
“The artist, and particularly the poet, is always an anarchist in the best sense of the word. He must heed only the call that arises within him from three strong voices: the voice of death, with all its foreboding, the voice of love and the voice of art.” Shakespeare's plays are considered art, and classics-- because they speak to all the ages, before-- and now, and to all perspectives and to multiple interpretations. We need such a mind and such a heart now--more than ever before, as Trump-landia tries to suffocate our minds, and our souls. May art, and theatre, and its integrity stand up now to delta, and to BOA, and to any who would try to keep it silent.
10
You mean an "anarchist" receiving corporate sponsorship and taxpayer dollars?
2
But Margo, in Shakespeare, all people who kill kings are severely punished for it. In no way, shape, or form does Shakespeare endorse regicide. Have you read Shakespeare? He couldn't be MORE opposed to regicide.
2
How can turning "Julius Caesar" into agitprop be a good thing, much less good art? This "review" fails to mention the current context of a beheaded Trump and what some call a witch hunt in the mainstream media to denigrate, demean, and impeach the sitting president. That the "mob" is seen by the reviewer as the chief menace reinforces the meme that Trump's supporters are de facto enemies of democracy and enablers of chaos and tyranny. This is dangerous demagoguery.
4
That the "mob" is seen by the reviewer as the chief menace reinforces the meme that Trump's supporters are de facto enemies of democracy and enablers of chaos and tyranny. This is dangerous demagoguery.
A pretty accurate description if you ask me.
A pretty accurate description if you ask me.
1
The actors in the "mob" are the ones that cry, "This is what Democracy looks like!" I thought that was the cry of the left. Either mob - far left or far right - is equally dangerous to the commonweal.
Simple solution -- change the politician being stabbed to death to Bill de Blasio.
4
Turns out Shakespeare, “...know(s) words, ...the best words."
5
Thank you for your well-stated observation. As someone who despises Donald Trump, I nonetheless object to theatrical approaches with such literal artistic and rhetorical principles. For me, in their obviousness, these kinds of theatrical efforts are too obvious and "on the nose."
Worse, in their reductionistic manner, this cartoonish theater panders to the self-congratulation of the audience for its shared superior values and righteousness, undercutting what others have noted are the ironies and philosophical tensions inherent in a play like Julius Caesar. I believe preaching to the choir is a less valuable ambition of art than challenging our verities and producing the disquiet and uncertainty that cause us to reflect even deeper, without certitude, on life's most important matters.
Worse, in their reductionistic manner, this cartoonish theater panders to the self-congratulation of the audience for its shared superior values and righteousness, undercutting what others have noted are the ironies and philosophical tensions inherent in a play like Julius Caesar. I believe preaching to the choir is a less valuable ambition of art than challenging our verities and producing the disquiet and uncertainty that cause us to reflect even deeper, without certitude, on life's most important matters.
4
Thank you for this opinion.
Other of the Bard's plays show political violence, MACBETH, KING LEAR, the Henry plays. Why single out CAESAR?
1
Well,you can only stage one at a time, generally. I suppose it would be interesting to do a few in repertory, showing different angles - all with the same "Trump" in the center - Macbeth, then Julius Caesar, then King Lear (having the daughters all have different mothers would be a nice touch) - Then I suppose you could throw in a Henry V, with a reformed, triumphant "Trump", so people couldn't say you were being biased...
2
And that is why Shakespeare is so great. Everything changes, and nothing changes.
16
People should read Roman history to find out that the Roman republic and its Senate was an hereditary oligarchy (the opitmates) that oppressed the masses of the Roman people and Caesar's political base was rooted in the support of the people (the populares) and that he was killed for trying to put through laws to lessen inequality and improve the lives of the common people: our closest analogy would be Lincoln (Caesar) and Booth (Brutus).
9
It gets complicated, though - that "support of the people" can be one of the signs of a malignant dictatorship, when it is the Leader who detects and expresses the vox populi. And remember how they say in Russia the oppressed people always had a fantasy that "if only the Czar knew" about local cruelties and excesses, he would set everything right.
2
I have yet to see a play or an opera - NOT ONE! - that has gained in any kind of relevance for me by being updated to the present, or to the time of its author's life, or to any other time except that in which the events took place. Seeing this production (which I won't), I would spend most of my time wondering why people in business suits, bathing suits or whatever, are speaking an archaic form of English, and trying to recall the last time I heard a 'thee','thou', or 'thy' out of anyone I know, or even out of an American president or the Queen of England. Mr. Melrose says that having the play in contemporary clothes "illuminates' Shakespeare play. For me, it only illuminates a director who is barren of intelligence. When will the people (in this case, theatergoers, finally understand that the emperor has no clothes, and that he's not only naked, but has boils for brains?
5
Go see a Doll's House Part II.
5
I always marvel at how protest movements grow around works of literature that are dramatised decades or hundreds of years after they were written. Had no one employed by the sponsors read "Julius Caesar" in high school? As with Martin Scorscese's film "The Last Temptation of Christ" based on the book by Nikos Kazantzakis, protests were staged ouside movie theaters in 1988 while the book had been available since 1955.
7
You totally miss the point. No one objects to the play itself and the sponsors presumably didn't know that Julius Caesar would be a Trump clone. Depicting the assassination of the president in a country that, so far, has assassinated three crosses a line of good taste and decency. Since corporate sponsors are always motivated by a chance to promote their brand, it's natural that they would pull away in this case.
3
Yet Delta Airlines seemed perfectly content to sponsor the Guthrie production with an Obama like Julius Caesar. Did anyone fire off angry notes to Delta in 2012?
7
@ Karen, how do you know they didn't?
Donald Trump will one day be remembered as a footnote in history. Shakespeare and his work will live on forever.
35
Can you predict the future? He's barely started his presidency.
What if Trump starts WWIII and blows up the entire planet? Will he still be a footnote?
Wishful thinking is just . . . wishful thinking.
What if Trump starts WWIII and blows up the entire planet? Will he still be a footnote?
Wishful thinking is just . . . wishful thinking.
You GO, Brutus!
3
I don't have a problem with the play or public money funding it.
I do have an ongoing issue with the selective outrage and hypocrisy of castigating some for political incorrectness but not others.
If Public Theatre is free to fantasize about a Trump assassination then no one else should be fired or expelled from school for speech some may find offensive.
Freedom of expression is for everyone. Not just those who agree with us or speak to our biases.
I do have an ongoing issue with the selective outrage and hypocrisy of castigating some for political incorrectness but not others.
If Public Theatre is free to fantasize about a Trump assassination then no one else should be fired or expelled from school for speech some may find offensive.
Freedom of expression is for everyone. Not just those who agree with us or speak to our biases.
25
What type of speech in schools are you referring to? You may be comparing apples to oranges. The 1st amendment is in full force in schools so long as students aren't required to use religious speech as that would violate the amendment prohibiting gov't from establishing a religion.
2
stephen - I have two kids who went K-12 public school and are now in college. Raised during the radical upswing of social media. Believe me. The First Amendment is no where near in full force.
Freedom of speech is only freedom of approved speech; that which fits into the comfort zone of teachers and administrators.
And we are liberals in liberal CT. Shouldn't it be better?
Freedom of speech is only freedom of approved speech; that which fits into the comfort zone of teachers and administrators.
And we are liberals in liberal CT. Shouldn't it be better?
5
You know exactly what he's referring to. Professors being castigated or even dismissed on college campuses for expressing views that could be, rightly or sometimes even wrongly, construed as even vaguely out of line with progressive values. He's right. What's good for the progressive goose is good for the conservative gander.
5
I don't have any problem with the play, and if I did, so what? My opinion means nothing when someone else is expressing their "artistic" view.
The only issue I have is with taxpayer money paying for it. Performances and individual "artists" should be financially supported by those who wish to do so. Period.
I'm okay with taxpayer money being used for infrastructure, the building and utilities, to help the arts. However, specific performances should be paid for by those who support each show, whether it's a corporation or individual. Leave my money out of it.
The only issue I have is with taxpayer money paying for it. Performances and individual "artists" should be financially supported by those who wish to do so. Period.
I'm okay with taxpayer money being used for infrastructure, the building and utilities, to help the arts. However, specific performances should be paid for by those who support each show, whether it's a corporation or individual. Leave my money out of it.
5
The National Endowment for the Arts (ie your tax dollars) doesn't support the Public Theater. It is supported by New York Tax dollars and private donors as well as ticket buyers.
13
The production is not supported with taxpayer money. D.Trump, jr. has promoted this lie with his tweets and plenty of people are buying it without question. This is precisely why we should support the arts as an essential watchdog in a democracy. Without the arts and a free press, the lies of the powerful go unchallenged.
15
Bank of American partners with the National Education Association (the other NEA) and I have closed my account with them as a result of their decision to cut funding. How could the NEA imagine that teachers and educators would go along with this?
24
Bravo! That's what all who think Delta and Bank of America are wrong and cowardly should do - BOYCOTT
4
Of course, the entire interpretation of Julius Caesar is backwards. Brutus and Cassis are of the 1 percent and see in Caesar an attempt to roll back their privilege in order to address what Caesar saw as the dangerous imbalance in Roman culture. His teachers were the Gracchi, who tried to the same thing in the previous generation. Also, no Tudor playwright could write a play that approves of the assassination of the leader because to imagine the death of King was then treason. The tragedy of Julius Caesar is that the history of the actual events is lost. The resonances to current events is that we have no Caesar to represent the people over the 1 percent.
18
I think it's pretty close - Caesar claimed to be looking out for the "people" - just as Trump makes the same (very dubious) claim. And the motives of the anti-Trump conspirators are deeply compromised, just like the motives of our political classes, from right to left. All pretty realistic, just like it was in Shakespeare's day.
1
This whole issue does nothing except continue to reinforce that the nation is quickly devolving from the ideals in the constitution into the void of an populist authoritarian dictatorship.
Kleptocratic actions by government officials, and a "bread and circuses" approach to governing by a reality show "star" makes the similarity between Rome in the century before the birth of Christ and today's United States astonishing.
Watch out! We are becoming Ancient Rome! Internal corruption will cause our downfall.
Blindly chanting "Hail Trump" is destroying our nation.
Kleptocratic actions by government officials, and a "bread and circuses" approach to governing by a reality show "star" makes the similarity between Rome in the century before the birth of Christ and today's United States astonishing.
Watch out! We are becoming Ancient Rome! Internal corruption will cause our downfall.
Blindly chanting "Hail Trump" is destroying our nation.
29
Just set the play in the time period as written, ancient Rome. A traditional production. All of Shakespeare's plays are brilliant. The audience can make the connection, they always have. Why do we need Caesar in a suit with a long red tie? It's so obvious it's ridiculous. Furthermore, the last thing we need in this country right now is to incite violence, even through inference.
9
Literal realism in production was not the practice in Shakespeare's time. When first performed, it is likely that the show used costumes contemporary to the time Shakespeare wrote it. A modern dress production is closer to "as written" than some fantasy version in togas more common to the 19th century than to the. 21st, or 16th.
7
I wonder why the version which the Obama-like Caesar killed in the middle (as always happens to Caesar) did not cause a stir, but the one with a Trump-like figure is an outrage?
As to Trump taking heart that the message is that killing the leader is a bad idea, the subtlety of that would be beyond the current commander and chief. His only 'like' would be a play with a grand finale of triumphal entry to the worship of a cheering crowd.
As to Trump taking heart that the message is that killing the leader is a bad idea, the subtlety of that would be beyond the current commander and chief. His only 'like' would be a play with a grand finale of triumphal entry to the worship of a cheering crowd.
54
It's never a good argument that two wrongs make one right. If an Obama-like figure was in a Julius Caesar play it was wrong. That doesn't make this portrayal of Trump right. In this political climate, with fanatics on the right and left, it would be incendiary to show or portray assasinations of, say, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. It may have First Amendment protection but it's still unwise and dangerous. Bank Of America and Delta did the right thing by withdrawing support.
11
I wonder why Delta sponsored the Obama-like version but pulled out of the Trump-like version?
2
You are incorrect. The theater has stated that Delta sponsored the main stage production only - Julius Caesar was staged in one of their smaller theaters, not on the mainstage.
I'm not a trumpie. not by a long shot. but I strongly feel that this production, including a clear reference to trump's assassination is of very, very poor taste and doesn't serve any purpose : political or artistic. true, by a sharp contrast it drives home the notion that we in the US have free speech and the Russians don't. which we do, and there wasn't a need to prove the obvious. its of a very poor taste and does give unstable, demanded individuals material for misbehaving.
17
The cry of poor taste often accompanies cries of caution in the face of authoritarian impulses. Be careful what you wish for: suppression of the arts, even in the name of so-called good taste, is suppression of free speech and democracy.
11
Remind us again when you saw this production?
1
President Kennedy's assassination on November 22nd 1963 marked the beginning of the end of American innocence for me. No one in the world could turn upside down to right side up. The Beatles came to America in the winter of 1964 and cheered me up for awhile. In 1968 Robert Kennedy held a campaign rally in a run down movie theater in my predominately Republican hometown and was shot down a week later in Los Angeles on June 6th. A down turn that no one could right. Ronald Reagan, whose presidency looked to me in my teenage years like a Republican version of a 2nd rate Camelot, was shot down by a young fanatic with a connection to Reagan's inner circle. I despised President Reagan's thick headed, mean spirited policies but hoped with all my heart he would live. The down turns continued topped off at the turn of the 21st century by our election for president ultimately decided by the Supreme Court instead of a vote count. Down turn escalation. Fast forward to 2017. The Trump organization has seized all reins of power with no one in sight in a seat of power to turn upside down to right side up. It's now six months into this administration and everyday another tenet of our democracy is debased. I'm no innocent. I wish for this gang and this president every ILL short of assassination. Their presence in the heart of our Nation makes a return to a world turned right side up appear further away to me than anytime since the 22nd of November 1963.
44
While I agree with your list of 20th century American tragedies, I might add that our history is fraught with such "loss of innocence". In 1860 the US population was a tenth of today, but it lost nearly 700,00 lives...that's over 10 times the number of American lives lost in Viet Nam. Don't forget our founding fathers had a chance to eliminate slavery in the drafting of the constitution. There's a loss of innocence. Our country...all countries...are far from innocent. We bear the responsibility of a populace so ignorant that it would elect a thug like Trump. No one is innocent my friend. It is probably good business for a large corporation to shed sponsorship in this setting. Perhaps it protects jobs for families who desperately need them. The theater should produce the play as they see fit, but no one is obligated to support them. Such is the burden of free thought.
5
Well, in some sense those corporations weren't obligated to maintain their sponsorship - not legally, I guess - and they have the right to suddenly change their "minds", if corporations have minds - but caving in like that in the face of a tweet from the president's son is a serious offense to - what? Human dignity? Integrity? Courage? I guess none of those are obligations, exactly...
11
For me the end of American innocence began with the sale of a cargo of Africans at Jamestown c. 1619.
4
Hmm? What play did the sponsors think they were funding? I read JC in my sophomore year of high school, in 1981. That year there was a real assassination attempt that hurt and terrified real people.
When I went to see the Public’s production at the Delacorte I knew the story of JC as well as ancient history and Ametican history. I was well aware of the crucial lessons of history and this play for contemporary US politics: absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the use of violence to redress the issue only begets more violence and no real solution. It never occurred to me that anyone was advocating violence against President Trump.
Really, I think that the conservatives (if they are truly conservatives) are being more than a little literal-minded. And I hope they are being disingenuous (not really as silly and naive about Shakespeare as they seem to be). My first thought upon hearing of this latest political riot was that Shakespeare should be turning in his grave to hear such misguided response to what surely is just how he and his colleagues would have performed the play in his day given the same political environment.
No doubt that the sponsors who pulled their funding were looking merely for a tax shelter that would adorn their PR image and no more. Dear Shakespeare, save us from the sad, dreary mind of covetousness and ignorant vanity.
When I went to see the Public’s production at the Delacorte I knew the story of JC as well as ancient history and Ametican history. I was well aware of the crucial lessons of history and this play for contemporary US politics: absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the use of violence to redress the issue only begets more violence and no real solution. It never occurred to me that anyone was advocating violence against President Trump.
Really, I think that the conservatives (if they are truly conservatives) are being more than a little literal-minded. And I hope they are being disingenuous (not really as silly and naive about Shakespeare as they seem to be). My first thought upon hearing of this latest political riot was that Shakespeare should be turning in his grave to hear such misguided response to what surely is just how he and his colleagues would have performed the play in his day given the same political environment.
No doubt that the sponsors who pulled their funding were looking merely for a tax shelter that would adorn their PR image and no more. Dear Shakespeare, save us from the sad, dreary mind of covetousness and ignorant vanity.
91
It's called pandering.. like a bunch of dogs salivating at the sight of the chocolate that will kill them if they eat too much of it. Hoping for that privatization (government money -- more government $$ than before going into private pockets) and tax cut-- so they don't have to hire anyone to find the loopholes for them. (Lawyers and accountants are expensive.. and supply does not seem to bring prices down.)
I am hoping that after this - Trump-Repub Congress we are thru with Reaganomics, put back the luxury and estate taxes (stop the nonsense with economic growth-- it ain't happening-- we are now global economically, not local) and re -regulate Wall Street- and raise the interest rate. So far as the boyz and their missals and guns and weapons of mass destruction-- what a waste, and I hope we will go back to the discussion of population control pre-conception. Somehow no one ever wants to talk about the population explosion and global warming....
I am hoping that after this - Trump-Repub Congress we are thru with Reaganomics, put back the luxury and estate taxes (stop the nonsense with economic growth-- it ain't happening-- we are now global economically, not local) and re -regulate Wall Street- and raise the interest rate. So far as the boyz and their missals and guns and weapons of mass destruction-- what a waste, and I hope we will go back to the discussion of population control pre-conception. Somehow no one ever wants to talk about the population explosion and global warming....
4
What did Judge Judy say about telling people who are getting wet that it's just raining.
In light of yesterday's cabinet meeting, King Lear comes to mind. Having his daughters compete in flattery, Lear anticipates Trump in delusional narcissism. Reagan exudes our high officials' saccharine sycophancy, outdoing the oleaginous Goneril:
In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.
In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short: that I profess
Myself an enemy to all other joys,
Which the most precious square of sense possesses;
And find I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.
53
To say that the play has inspired violence is making an unsubstantiated assumption. John Wilkes Booth, for example, may have identified with such an act of theatrical violence, but was not necessarily motivated by it. Be careful now.
27
Nobody says it isn't relevant political commentary. The problem is that it's politics paid for by citizen tax money. In effect it is government sponsored propaganda. As usual the Times cuts down a straw man to justify its own bias.
15
I disagree. Should the government fund only variations on vacant Disney fantasy products designed for consumers instead of modern productions of one of Shakespeare's quite relevant controversial plays fit for educated citizens? I'm concerned about the level of intellectual reductionism that seems to be recommended for the more or less educated masses. This same play was written and performed for absolute monarch and commoner alike. And now, we choose to censor? Why? For whose benefit?
92
The article doesn't say it is tax funded. It appears to be corporate funded. The "Public" in "Public Theater" is not the same as in "Public School".
63
Amy, it isn't relevant. Brutus likes Caesar. He kills him for the benefit of Rome. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Shakespeare. I don't really see much connection between JC and the current dislike of the Trump presidency. Trump and Caesar are very different personas. I love the play. I just don't think the plot is all that relevant. I feel like I could pick a play by Thomas Middleton or Christopher Marlowe that would be more relevant, but I haven't read either in twenty years. I would say that parts of Richard II are more relevant in their depiction of an ego-centric ruler who elevates and banishes his underlings based on expediency and personal whim.
6
The complete lack of controversy at the Guthie production which featured an Obama like Caesar, compared to the reaction we have here, speaks volumes. There is one set of rules for straight white men, and another set of rules for the rest of us. And this particular straight white man is particularly fragile. I am writing the Public Theater of New York a check today, and for Delta and Bank of America? They are getting letters too, but with a lump of Trumpian coal.
198
Certainly the 2012 production which featured a black man playing the role of Caesar suggested an Obama-like character in that he was president at the time and he is black. But a clear proxy for Michelle Obama was not a character in that production, whereas in the instant production the long-red-tie-bearing Trump character has a Slavic wife, clearly Melania Trump, to make sure the audience knows the play is definitely depicting Trump and not a mere Trump-like character.
It is actually flattering of Trump to compare him to Julius Caesar.
Of course, we know that those who killed Caesar to ostensibly preserve the republic and prevent one-man rule were not hailed as saving heroes but instead relentlessly hunted down and killed as enemies of the state, and their actions created the environment to hasten authoritarian rule. One imagines the spasms of civil violence which would occur were Trump's presidency to be interrupted, with any such interruption of a democratically-elected president being seen as a coup d'etat by Trump's supporters. The long-term effects could result in a further weakening of our adherence to democratic traditions.
It is actually flattering of Trump to compare him to Julius Caesar.
Of course, we know that those who killed Caesar to ostensibly preserve the republic and prevent one-man rule were not hailed as saving heroes but instead relentlessly hunted down and killed as enemies of the state, and their actions created the environment to hasten authoritarian rule. One imagines the spasms of civil violence which would occur were Trump's presidency to be interrupted, with any such interruption of a democratically-elected president being seen as a coup d'etat by Trump's supporters. The long-term effects could result in a further weakening of our adherence to democratic traditions.
3
Oh please. Though your black/white oppressor/oppressed paradigm might plausibly work (though in no way so neatly - nor smugly - as you may assume) if we were discussing society at large, to pretend that (so-called) "straight white men" get preferential treatment in the contemporary art/theater/literary community is laughable.
13
Who knew about the 2012 production ... hardly anyone. I object to any suggestion that we commit violence against a president no matter who it is. I'd be more than happy to be called back to active duty to deal with anyone who tries to use unlawful means to overthrow the US government, regardless of who the president is or his party.
11
To be fair, on alternating nights, the leader being killed in the play could be a stand-in for President Obama and for President Trump.
In this manner, both sides would be fairly represented.
I am disappointed that the NY Times has not argued for this equitable approach.
In this manner, both sides would be fairly represented.
I am disappointed that the NY Times has not argued for this equitable approach.
2
Obama is mo longer president. And there was a production with an Obama-like Caesar.
This is an idiotic idea and a dangerous one. Art, like life, isn't always fair. Nor is it always pretty. The director made certain choices to express ideas and situations relevant to the text. And the audience has choices too - don't go if you think you'll be offended, go if you are willing to make up your own mind about controversy.
1
Alex - there was a production of Julius Caesar featuring an Obama-like Caesar in 2012; it's mentioned in the article. There was nowhere near the outrage that this go round seems to be provoking.
I don't get why suddenly there have to be "balanced" showings.
I don't get why suddenly there have to be "balanced" showings.
Shame on Delta for its corporate cowardice and subservience to the Trump administration. Senior management at the airline should be ashamed of themselves.
121
It is the responsibility of theater and art to be provocative but not the responsibility of a corporation to participate in the provocation. Instead of "shaming" Delta make a contribution to the Public Theater. That would be a meaningful protest.
7
Why ? Delta's first obligation is to its shareholders. Most corporations run for the exits at the first hint of public controversy and Delta in this case is no different.
Corporate sponsorship of a play is no judge of the worth of the production. In fact, it might be the opposite. The best theater, by its very nature, is transgressive. The issue is not whether the Public Theater has gone too far. Rather, the issue is whether we will stand up for its right to do so.
146
Really well said. Is it not the sacred obligation of "the public" to challenge and call to account all who imagine themselves immune to public criticism for their excesses?
4
Part II of the article should be about exactly why corporate leaders felt they needed to distance themselves from this production. If the mob is empowered by the dictator then those beholden to the mob feel threatened when the dictator is criticized...
63
The Guardian does a better job with this.
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jun/12/donald-trump-shakespeare...
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jun/12/donald-trump-shakespeare...
8
"Dictator?" What?
You want to do the show in your way, you are free to put the show on.
And others are free, NOT to fund and pay. Y'know -- 1st Amendment?
One hears, "no labels." How about "no hypocrisy?"
You want to do the show in your way, you are free to put the show on.
And others are free, NOT to fund and pay. Y'know -- 1st Amendment?
One hears, "no labels." How about "no hypocrisy?"
1
This is what makes Shakespeare Shakespeare: longevity and prescience.