Mark Bold

“Hail To The Thief!” Claudius has stolen the crown of Denmark by murdering his brother and hastily marrying his queen. Like one present-day leader, he swaggers with immodest confidence and demands loyalty from those around him – yet, unlike our modern usurper, he is in private ravaged by guilt over his rank offence. Prince Hamlet swears revenge. He seems angered and honest, rather than simply mad. In this staging of Hamlet, the political elements of the play are accentuated and its revenge plot is given primacy with the pace throughout of a taut thriller.

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Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar was never intended to be a simple retelling of the tragic fate of the great Roman general and statesman. In its explicit analysis of political ambition and the nature of democracy and authority, it is foremost a philosophical work. This season’s interpretation by David Farr at the RSC accentuates the contemporary parallels of the play, setting the historical elements in a backdrop of media saturation and spin, and the civil strife that follows the fall of a tyrant. Pictures of demagogues and presidents, notably Silvio Berlusconi, dominate the accompanying programme, which also contains essays from current political thinkers, and the actors wear mostly the military-casual fashions of anti-globalisation protesters. The performance is meant as a strong comment on the current state of politics.

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