The Caesar Project (An adaptation of Julius Caesar)

Act I, Scene i
Rome. A street.

ANNOUNCER
Leadership. What makes a good leader? Wisdom? Charisma? What happens when the power of office goes to a leader’s head? Someone once said “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This and other issues are examined in the HSC production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The play opens on the streets of Rome during the feast of Lupercal. Like rioting soccer fans, the plebians party in the streets awaiting the return of Caesar from triumph over Pompey. Let’s join our intrepid on the scene reporter, James Corbett. James?

REPORTER
Thank you, Rosa. I’m here at the Roman Forum, center of…

ANNOUNCER
Excuse me, James, but aren’t you behind the Shubert.

REPORTER
True enough, Rosa, but as you well know Shakespeare’s plays are universal and will not be constrained by time period or location.

ANNOUNCER
Excellent point, James.

REPORTER
I hear a crowd, Rosa, let’s investigate…

[Enter Flavius, Marullus, and a Throng of Citizens, cheering and shouting ad lib “Caesar! Caesar!, etc.]

FLAVIUS
Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home!
But wherefore art not in thy shop today?
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

[Christina, muffled “Shut up, you ***!” All laugh.]

COBBLER
We make holiday to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph.

MARULLUS
Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
What tributaries follow him to Rome?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome.
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone! Run to your houses.

FLAVIUS
Go, go, good countrymen, and weep some tears for Pompey.

[Exeunt.]

REPORTER
This is the scene all over Rome, Rosa. A festive atmosphere not unlike Mardi Gras, but with a tension you can almost feel, borne of that thing Romans fear most: Civil War.

ROSA
Excuse me, James, I’m just getting word that Caesar has entered the city. Yes, I can hear the procession approaching. I’ll take you there now, live!


Act I, Scene ii

[Enter, in procession, with drums, Caesar, Antony, Calpurnia, Casca, Brutus, and Cassius, a crowd following.]

CAESAR
[To Casca] Calpurnia,—

CASCA
Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.

CAESAR
Calpurnia,—

CALPURNIA
Here, my lord.

CAESAR
Come you here by me. Mark Antony?

ANTONY
Caesar, my lord?

CAESAR
You are my most loyal friend. Lead on.

ANTONY
When Caesar says "Do this," it is perform'd.

[The procession resumes.]

SOOTHSAYER
Caesar!

CAESAR
Ha! Who calls?

CASCA
Bid every noise be still.—Peace yet again!

CAESAR
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.

SOOTHSAYER
Beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR
Who is it that speaks?

BRUTUS
A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR
Speak once again.

SOOTHSAYER
Beware the Ides of March.

CAESAR
She is a dreamer; let us leave her. Pass.

[The drum resumes. Several in the crowd taunt the SOOTHSAYER as they pass. She pauses when she sees BRUTUS and CASSIUS, then exits DL. Exeunt all but BRUTUS and CASSIUS, DR.]

ROSA
Ladies and gentlemen. You’ve just seen Caesar, the most famous figure in all the world pass by. Just a moment; there are the respected Roman senators: Brutus and Cassius. Gentlemen, what do you make of this Soothsayer’s prediction?

CASSIUS
Well, I believe…

BRUTUS
[Cuts him off] We have no comment.

ROSA
Cassius, is Caesar a danger to Rome and the Republic?

BRUTUS
No comment!
[Rosa is escorted offstage by someone in sunglasses?]

CASSIUS
Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have.

BRUTUS
Cassius, be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself.

CASSIUS
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

BRUTUS
No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself
But by reflection.

CASSIUS
It is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow. I have heard
Where many of the best respect in Rome,—
Except immortal Caesar!—speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

BRUTUS
Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius?

CASSIUS
Good Brutus, be prepared to hear.

[A shout.]

BRUTUS
What means this shouting? I do fear the people
Choose Caesar for their king.

CASSIUS
Ay, do you fear it?
Then must I think you would not have it so.

BRUTUS
I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well,
But what is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honor in one eye and death i' the other
And I will look on both indifferently;
For I do love the name of honor more than I fear death.

CASSIUS
Well, honor is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Caesar; so were you:
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he:
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Caesar said to me, "Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood
And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,
And bade him follow so indeed he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews, throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Caesar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink!
And this man is now become a god; and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him.

CASSIUS
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about.
"Brutus" and "Caesar": what should be in that "Caesar"?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed
That he is grown so great?

BRUTUS
That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
For this present, I would not
Be any further moved. What you have said,
I will consider; what you have to say,
I will with patience hear.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.

CASSIUS
I am glad that my weak words
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.

ROSA
All the sway of earth shakes like a thing unfirm,
Scolding winds have rived the knotty oaks,
The ambitious ocean swells and rages and foams
To be exalted with the threat’ning clouds;
Either there is a civil strife in heaven,
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,
Incenses them to send destruction.


Act II, Scene i
Rome. BRUTUS'S orchard.

[Enter Brutus.]

BRUTUS
What, Lucius, ho!— Awake, I say! What, Lucius!

[Enter Lucius.]

LUCIUS
Call'd you, my lord?

BRUTUS
Is not tomorrow, boy, the Ides of March?

LUCIUS
I know not, sir.

BRUTUS
Look in the calendar, and bring me word.

LUCIUS
I will, my lord.

[Exit.]

BRUTUS
It must be by Caesar’s death: and, for my part,
I know no personal cause to spurn at him,
But for the general. He would be crown'd:
How that might change his nature, there's the question:
Crown him, and then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
Th' abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power.

[Re-enter Lucius.]

LUCIUS
Sir, March is wasted fifteen days.

BRUTUS
Get you to bed again; it is not day.
[Knocking within.]
'Tis good. Go to the gate, somebody knocks.—
Then get you to bed. It is not day.
[Exit Lucius.]
Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar
I have not slept.
Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
A hideous dream, and the state of man,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
The nature of an insurrection.

[Enter Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus Cimber, and Trebonius.]

CASSIUS
I think we are too bold upon your rest:
Good morrow, Brutus; do we trouble you?

BRUTUS
I have been up this hour, awake all night.
Know I these men that come along with you?

CASSIUS
Yes, every man of them; and no man here
But honors you; and every one doth wish
You had but that opinion of yourself
Which every noble Roman bears of you.

BRUTUS
Give me your hands all over, one by one.

CASSIUS
And let us swear our resolution.

BRUTUS
No, not an oath.
What need we any spur but our own cause
To prick us to redress? And what other oath
Than honesty? Swear priests, and cowards.
But do not stain
The even virtue of our enterprise,
To think that our cause or our performance
Did need an oath.

DECIUS
Shall no man else be touch'd but only Caesar?

CASSIUS
Decius, well urged.—I think it is not meet,
Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,
Should outlive Caesar: we shall find of him
A shrewd contriver.
Let Antony and Caesar fall together.

BRUTUS
Our course will seem too bloody, Cassius,
To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs.
For Antony is but a limb of Caesar.
Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers,
We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar.
And Caesar must bleed for it! But, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds;
This shall make
Our purpose necessary, and not envious;
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers.
And for Mark Antony, think not of him.

CASSIUS
Yet I do fear him.

BRUTUS
Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him.

TREBONIUS
There is no fear in him; let him not die;
For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.

[Clock strikes.]

BRUTUS
Peace! count the clock.

CASSIUS
The clock hath stricken three.

TREBONIUS
Cease! 'Tis time to part.

CASSIUS
It is doubtful yet whether Caesar will come forth today or no.

DECIUS
Never fear that. I will bring him to the Capitol.

CASCA
Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.

TREBONIUS
The morning comes upon us.

DECIUS
We’ll leave you, Brutus.

BRUTUS
Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily.
Let not our looks put on our purposes.

[Enter Portia.]

PORTIA
Brutus, my lord!

BRUTUS
Portia, what mean you? wherefore rise you now?
It is not for your health thus to commit
Your weak condition to the raw-cold morning.

PORTIA
Nor for yours neither. You've ungently, Brutus,
Stole from my bed: and yesternight, at supper,
You suddenly arose, and walk'd about,
Musing and sighing, with your arms across;
And, when I ask'd you what the matter was,
You stared upon me with ungentle looks.
And, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did;
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which sometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep;
I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.

BRUTUS
I am not well in health, and that is all.

PORTIA
Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.

BRUTUS
Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.

PORTIA
Is Brutus sick? and is it physical
To walk unbraced and suck up the humours
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed
To dare the vile contagion of the night,
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;
You have some sick offense within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,
I charge you, by my once commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy, and what men to-night
Have had resort to you; for here have been
Some six or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

BRUTUS
Kneel not, gentle Portia.

PORTIA
I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted I should know no secrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself
But, as it were, in sort or limitation,—
To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,
And talk to you sometimes? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

BRUTUS
You are my true and honorable wife;

PORTIA
If this were true, then should I know this secret.
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em.
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here in the thigh: can I bear that with patience
And not my husband's secrets?

BRUTUS
O ye gods,
Render me worthy of this noble wife! [They embrace. Lights fade.]

Act II, Scene ii-Act III, Scene ii
A room in Caesar's palace.

[Thunder and lightning. Enter Caesar]

CAESAR
Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace tonight:
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
"Help, help! They murder Caesar!"

[Enter Calpurnia.]

CALPURNIA
What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

CAESAR
Caesar shall forth.

CALPURNIA
Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan;
O Caesar, these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them!

CAESAR
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.

CALPURNIA
Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence!
Do not go forth to-day.
Let me upon my knee prevail in this.
Say you are sick.

CAESAR
Shall Caesar send a lie?
Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,
To be afeard to tell grey-beards the truth?—
The Ides of March are come.

SOOTHSAYER
Ay, Caesar; but not gone.

ROSA
Tragedy today, in the Roman Forum.



Act III, Scene i
Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting.

CASCA
Speak, hands, for me!

[Casca stabs Caesar in the neck. Caesar catches hold of his arm.He is then stabbed by several other Conspirators, and at last by Marcus Brutus.]

CAESAR
Et tu, Brute?—Then fall, Caesar!

[Dies. The Senators and People retire in confusion.]

VARIOUS CRIES
Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!—
Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.

CASSIUS
Where's Antony?

TREBONIUS
Fled to his house.

BRUTUS
Fates, we will know your pleasures:
That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time
And drawing days out, that men stand upon.

CASCA
Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life
Cuts off so many years of fearing death.

BRUTUS
Soft, who comes here?
[Enter Antony.]
Welcome, Mark Antony.

ANTONY
O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well.—
I know not, gentlemen, what you intend;
I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard,
Now, whilst your bloody hands do reek and smoke,
Fulfill your pleasure.

BRUTUS
O Antony, beg not your death of us!
Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,
Yet see you but our hands
Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful;
For your part,
To you our swords have leaden points;
Our arms do receive you in
With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.

CASSIUS
Your voice shall be as strong as any man's
In the disposing of new dignities.

BRUTUS
Only be patient
And then we will deliver you the cause
Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him,
Have thus proceeded.

ANTONY
I doubt not of your wisdom.
All I seek is that I may,
As becomes a friend,
Speak in the order of his funeral.

BRUTUS
You shall, Mark Antony.

CASSIUS
Brutus, a word with you.

BRUTUS
[Aside to Cassius.] By your pardon:
I will myself into the pulpit first,
And show the reason of our Caesar's death:

CASSIUS
I like it not.

BRUTUS
Mark Antony,
You shall not in your funeral speech blame us,
But speak all good you can devise of Caesar;
And say you do't by our permission.

ANTONY
I do desire no more. [Brutus, Cassius, et. al., exeunt.]
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,—
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
Shall cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war!

Act III, Scene ii
The same. The Forum.

FIFTH CITIZEN
We will be satisfied; let us be satisfied.

FIRST CITIZEN
I will hear Brutus speak.

SECOND CITIZEN
I will hear Brutus.

THIRD CITIZEN
The noble Brutus is ascended: silence!

BRUTUS
Romans, countrymen, and lovers! Hear me for my cause; and be
silent, that you may hear.
If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to
him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If
then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is
my answer,—Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome
more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than
that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen? As Caesar loved me, I
weep for him. But, as he was ambitious, I slew him.
Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him
have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his
country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.

CITIZENS
None, Brutus, none.

BRUTUS
Here is Mark Antony, who had no hand in his death.
With this I depart—that, as I slew my best friend for the good of Rome,
I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country
to need my death.

CITIZENS
Live, Brutus! live, live!

FIRST CITIZEN
Bring him with triumph home unto his house.

SECOND CITIZEN
Give him a statue with his ancestors.

THIRD CITIZEN
Let him be Caesar.

FOURTH CITIZEN
Caesar's better parts shall be crown'd in Brutus.

FIRST CITIZEN:
We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamours.

BRUTUS
My countrymen -—

SECOND CITIZEN
Peace! silence! Brutus speaks.

FIRST CITIZEN
Peace, ho!

BRUTUS
Good countrymen, let me depart alone,
And, for my sake, stay here with Antony:

FIRST CITIZEN
Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.

THIRD CITIZEN
Let him go up into the public chair.

CITIZENS
We'll hear him.—Noble Antony, go up.

FOURTH CITIZEN
What does he say of Brutus?

FOURTH CITIZEN
'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.

FIRST CITIZEN
This Caesar was a tyrant.

THIRD CITIZEN
Nay, that's certain:
We are blest that Rome is rid of him.

SECOND CITIZEN
Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.

ANTONY
You gentle Romans,—

CITIZENS
Peace, ho! let us hear him.

ANTONY
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, 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 Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Caesar was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once—not without cause.
Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me. [He weeps.]

FIRST CITIZEN
Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.

SECOND CITIZEN
If thou consider rightly of the matter,
Caesar has had great wrong.

FOURTH CITIZEN
He would not take the crown;
Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.

SECOND CITIZEN
Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.

THIRD CITIZEN
There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.

FOURTH CITIZEN
Now mark him; he begins again to speak.

ANTONY
O masters, if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men:
I will not do them wrong.
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle.
Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:

FIRST CITIZEN
O piteous spectacle!

ANTONY
See what a rent the envious Casca made:

SECOND CITIZEN
O noble Caesar!

THIRD CITIZEN
O woeful day!

ANTONY
Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;

FOURTH CITIZEN
Traitors, villains!

FIRST CITIZEN
O most bloody sight!

ANTONY
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it,—
As rushing out of doors.

SECOND CITIZEN
We will be revenged.

CITIZENS
Revenge,—about,—seek,—burn,—fire,—kill,—slay,—let not a
traitor live!

ANTONY
Stay, countrymen.

FIRST CITIZEN:
Peace there! hear the noble Antony.

SECOND CITIZEN
We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.

ANTONY
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To such a sudden flood of mutiny.
They that have done this deed are honourable
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it; they're wise and honourable,
And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I am no orator, as Brutus is;
I only speak right on;
I tell you that which you yourselves do know;
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds,
And bid them speak for me.

CITIZENS
We'll mutiny.

FIRST CITIZEN
We'll burn the house of Brutus.

THIRD CITIZEN
Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.

ANTONY
Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.

CITIZENS
Peace, ho! hear Antony; most noble Antony!

ANTONY
Why, friends, you go to do you know not what.
Here is Caesar’s will
To every Roman citizen he gives seventy-five drachmas.

SECOND CITIZEN
Most noble Caesar!—we'll revenge his death.

THIRD CITIZEN
O, royal Caesar!

ANTONY
Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?

FIRST CITIZEN
Never, never.—Come, away, away!

SECOND CITIZEN
Go, fetch fire.

THIRD CITIZEN
Pluck down benches.

FOURTH CITIZEN
Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.
[Exeunt Citizens, with the body.]