julius caesar play

Julius Caesar

By Juan Moreira, Phuong Le, Christiana Chamon and Doroteo Garcia

Director Responsibilities

• Responsible for coordinating

oScene

oCostumes

oLightning

oSound design

oGetting everyone on the same page

oChoosing a script

Choosing a Script

• The director must be attractive to the script first

• Then they will tweak the script to their liking

• Then the director will choose the spine of the play

• For our play we decided to stick to the original manuscript.

Casting

• Casting of Characters will be chosen based on

oVoice

oLooks

oExperience

oIf they fit the Part

Casting

• Julius Caesar Brutus Antony Cassius Cicero

• Octavius Casca Calpurnia Portia Flavius

Theme

• The theme of the play sets the mood and what the director wants the audience to get from the play

• For our production we want blood, murder and betrayal to be the central part of the play

Style (Lights)

• We want lighting that will attract audience’s attention. To highlight the play set and the action on stage

• Lights that will be used are

• Floodlights

• Beam

• Color lights

Style (Costumes)

Costume Design will be authentic to the period of 44B.C Rome.

Tunica

Toga

Peplos

Stola

Directional Concept

• Finally the character will add his own concepts to make the play experience unique.

• For our play we want to the audience to feel like they are watching the events live

• So we will add as much realism to the play’s costume, set design, lighting, sound and character casting.

Costumes

Men

Tunica• Short woolen undergarment with short sleeves [1]

• Originally worn by the working class plebeians, freedmen, and slaves, but could be worn by anyone [1]

Toga• Large cumbersome robe-like garment of white

wool [1]

• Only actual citizens were allowed to wear a toga [1]

Ancient Roman workerdressed in a tunica [2]

Roman citizen dressedin a toga [3]

• Toga virilis: plain, unadorned toga made in off-white color—worn by any adult male [1]

• Toga praetexta: off-white toga with a broad purple border—reserved for senators andcurule magistrates such as consuls [1]

• Toga pulla: dark toga worn strictly in times of mourning [1]

• Toga candida: artificially whitened toga worn by candidates for political office—whitesignifies purity for the election, and it was supposed to help the candidates stand out fromthe crowd [1]

• Toga picta: special all-purple toga embroidered with gold thread—worn by a Roman generalduring a triumphal parade [1]

• Julius Caesar later adopted it as part of his regular dress, and the emperors followed suit byusing this type during many state [1]

Types of togas

Roman general wearing a toga picta [4]

Women

Peplos• Similar to the Greek Chiton [1]

• Made from two rectangular pieces of cloth partially sewn together on both sides with the open sections at the top folded down in the front and back [1]

• Pulled over the head and fastened with twolarge pins, forming a sleeveless dress [1]

• A belt was then tied over or under the folds [1]

Stola• Married women were required to wear this loose toga-

equivalent [1]

• Long, sleeveless tunic strapped at theshoulder, gathered in and girdled atthe waist—the garment extended tothe feet [1]

• The pulla was a sort of shawl to throwover the whole figure and to be wornoutdoors [1]

Married woman wearing a stola [6]Woman wearing a peplos [5]

Shoes

Calceus

• Sandal-like shoe strapped to the foot [1]

• Mainly for internal wear [1]

Soleae

• Full shoe completely enclosing the foot [1]

• Much more similar to the modern shoe [1]

Calceus [7] Soleae [8]

Crowns/wreaths

• Adopted by the Romans from the Greeks and the Spartans [9]

• Originally meant to crown winners of Olympicgames [9]

• Circular ornaments worn on the head [9]

• Made from a variety of materials including gold,silver, leaves, and flowers [9]

• Referred to as a “corona” (crown) or “sertum”(garland/wreath) [9]

Olive wreath [10]

1953 Julius Caesar movie [11]

1953 Julius Caesar movie [11]

1953 Julius Caesar movie [12]

LIGHTS

STAGE LIGHTING

• A theatrical tool that:

‒ Attract audience’s attention

‒ Highlight the play set

‒ Advance the actions onstage

‒ Tell location and time of the day

• Show the imposing of Rome and Julius Caesar-the great man of the people

• Enhance audience’s experience in feeling the foreboding omen, violently providential storms, bloody ritualistic assassination, smoke and flames, gruesome apparitions and the enraged blaze of civil discord and war.

COLORS and LEVELS of LIGHTING

• Primary colors: White, Yellow, Blue, Red, and the mix of these

• Should “mix-match” and enhance the scenery, costumes, and make-up effects

In accordance with the play plot:

• Beginning of the play: fresh, bright and shine colors (White, Yellow, Blue) to show the bright future of Caesar and Rome

• When Caesar dies: bold, darker color, fading lights

• When the conspirators all die: extremely dark red, bloody coverage to indicate the tragedies and push the story to climax. Then light fades until completely reaches darkness…

LIGHTING INSTRUMENTS USE

• Floodlights - to show mood changes throughout the play (least expensive instruments due to simple construction and few complicated parts)

• Spotlights - to focus on specific Characters (when a monologue or dialogue is undertaken)

• Other instruments

FLOODLIGHTS

• Strip lights: a row of small floods arranged in either three or four circuits so that every third or fourth lamp is on the same circuit.

• Far-cycs and Cyc floods: Four floodlights arranged in a rectangular array. Each individual bay is a separate circuit.

• Beam projectors: Floods using a parabolic reflector, which project a very compact parallel beam similar to a narrow spotlight.

• PAR Units (PAR-cans): a self-contained Parabolic Aluminized Reflector and lamp combination with some rudimentary lensing built into the front to shape the beam, and placed in a tin-can to contain some of the spill.

SPOTLIGHTS

• PC Spots: A lamp with a spherical reflector in back and a Plano-Convex lens on the front.

• Fresnel: a modified PC-Spot, has a spherical reflector like a PC, but uses a Fresnel Lens instead.

• Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight: uses an ellipsoidal reflector with a PC lens or lenses in front. Most efficient spotlight type, can illuminate well from a distance.

OTHER INSTRUMENTS

• box/housing

• light source

• lens or opening

• Reflectors

-> support a better creation, control and monitor of lighting effects

ILLUSTRATIONS

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2008 production of “Julius Caesar”

• Spotlight focus on the main actors/actions in one particular scene to guide audience’s attention toward the actors/actions

• Other areas of the stage will have less or no lights to hinder the less important part of the act

ILLUSTRATIONS

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones…”- Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II

(Lights get darker when tragedy happens)

EXAMPLES FROM PAST PRODUCTIONS

Sam Troughton and Hannah Young in Julius Caesar 2013

Sets Design

Types of Theatres

• Proscenium - Entire audience benefits from the single direction. • Thrust - Audience surrounds the stage, allowing one side to serve as a background. • Arena - Audience surrounds the stage on all four sides, allowing for better sightline.

Proscenium Theatre

• The proscenium stage would give the audience the best experience for our interpretation of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”.

• Allows for the set changes that this play requires.

[2]

The Senate

• Large Auditorium-esque

• Built to match the period

• Large columns and Roman statues

[3]

Streets of Rome

• Busy

• People noisily talking

• Lively

• Roman buildings as the background

[4]

The Battlefield

• Open field

• Soldiers

• Soldiers in the distance

[5]

[7]

Ruling Metaphor

• The ruling metaphor for our production will be bloody hands

• All the conspirators had blood on their hands

[6]

References for Director

• http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/julius-caesar-calhern-garson.jpg

• http://www.romanroadsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Chiton.jpg

• http://www.entretelasvestuario.com/fotos/trajes_en_13_1320671462.jpg

• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Toga_(PSF).png/200px-Toga_(PSF).png

• http://www.merchantadventurers.com/roman/rt705g.jpg

• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Cesar-sa_mort.jpg

References for Set Design

[1]http://cassstudio6.wordpress.com/forms-of-stage/types/

[2]http://www.theprosceniumbyrockwell.com/proscenium-theater.html

[3]http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=3554

[4]http://lit.genius.com/1913834/William-shakespeare-julius-caesar-act-5-scene-1/Then-if-we-lose-this-battle-you-are-contented-to-be-led-in-triumph-thorough-the-streets-of-rome

[5]http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/194679922?view_mode=2

[6] http://strictlydisobedient.deviantart.com/art/bloody-hands-371512133

[7] http://classicalwisdom.com/

REFERENCE for Lights

http://www.ia470.com/primer/fixture.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_lighting_instrument#PAR_lights

http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/game-plan/2011/08/12/shakespeare-synetic-and-scandal-oh-my/

https://www.rosco.com/technotes/filters/technote5.html#fig1

http://berkshireonstage.com/2010/05/18/julius-caesar-to-open-shakespeare-company-season/

References for Costumes

• [1] http://www.unrv.com/culture/ancient-roman-clothing.php

• [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunic

• [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toga

• [4] http://www.digitalsculpture.org/caligula/index-colored_picta.html

• [5] http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/things/romanlife/greekdress.htm

• [6] http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/17400/17438/stola_17438.htm

• [7] http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/15900/15917/calceus_15917.htm

• [8] http://www.glogster.com/sadey7/glog-5630/g-6m07qi3cils7nri4bt4pca0

• [9] http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/roman-clothing/roman-crowns-and-wreaths.htm

• [10] http://imgkid.com/olive-wreath-png.shtml

• [11] http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/julius-caesar-review/78780/julius-caesar-1953-lookbackreview

• [12] http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Summaries/J/Julius%20Caesar%20(1953).htm