Play On Julius Caesar Debuts: "Friends, Americans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears."

 

Play On Podcasts is simply genius.

It reimagines Shakespeare's timeless tales, featuring original musical compositions and the voices of extraordinarily gifted artists. It's remarkable that the podcast is superb in so many ways. The original music is delightful and enchanting. The acting bristles with emotive energy. The plays they re-enact are much more Laurence Olivier in Hamlet than Mel Gibson in Hamlet. The scripted plays facilitate Shakespearean humor, wit, and sarcasm to flow through them.

Most important of all, the plays are scripted in modern English verse for modern audiences. Therefore, the age-old excuse that you don't like Shakespeare because you can't understand the words has vanished. 

My first play of Play On was Othello, which began in September 2023. The play was broken up into seven episodes of about 35 minutes per episode. Then, Play On releases bonus content, typically with the playwright who reimagined the Shakespearean classic in modern verse or one of the actors. The October 13, 2023, bonus content of Othello with playwright Mfoniso Udofia was inspired, with Udofia explaining how to handle the conversion of words from old English to modern language, especially the racial epithets. 

Then, Play On released the full play of Othello in one episode, which lasted over three hours.

Building upon Play On Shakespeare’s mission to enhance the understanding of Shakespeare’s plays in performance, Play On Podcasts bring timeless tales directly to modern audiences. The series – presented by Next Chapter Podcasts in partnership with Play On Shakespeare – has released Macbeth, Pericles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Coriolanus amongst various other titles over the last few years. Play On Podcasts recently won two Signal Awards – for Best Original Music/Score (Gold) and for Best Scripted Fiction (Silver).

On October 21, episode 1 of Play On Podcasts: Julius Caesar was released. Marcus Gardley’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s roiling political drama takes us into the heart of the Civil Rights movement and its aftermath. 

This play was written in a time of political transition, which also marked a shift in Shakespeare’s writing. Julius Caesar and Romeo and Julietare amongst the first of his great tragedies, written from 1599 to 1608. Julius Caesar is the most cerebral of these tragedies. The audience is not particularly sympathetic to the murdered Caesar, as he is hardly alive on stage long enough to seem a fully developed character. In his few scenes he appears as a charming, affable, if somewhat big-headed military leader, with a boyish sense of invincibility.

This play is often remembered for some of Shakespeare's most memorable quotes.

“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”  

“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!”  

“Et tu, Brute?” 

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings."

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

Directed by Harry Lennix and translated into modern English verse by Shishir Kurup, featuring the voices of Michael Potts, Glenn Davis, Megan Boone and Jeremy Tardy, with original music composition and Sound Design by Lindsay Jones.

In the words of Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears." 

Listen to Play On Julius Caesar.