The Deutsches Theater’s condensation of Shakespeare’s three historical Roman tales Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony And Cleopatra sits well within its current “Welche Zukunft” [“What Future”] season. Rom, subtitled Beginning And End Of A Republic, draws not just on Shakespeare but Plutarch and other classical sources as well as 21^st-century commentary upon the states of social and political affairs propelling the serial conflicts. Five centuries apart, both Coriolanus when running for office and Cleopatra’s son Caesarion when being schooled as rightful ruler of the known world are each told that, in order to attain the status in question, “You have to play the game” of marketing yourself.

broadly similar stitching-together The Roman Tragedies, first seen in London in 2009. Two of the three plays here last less than an hour, the other (Julius Caesar) only a few minutes over. Shakespeare provides the spine of the text, but there is much paraphrasing and interpolation. In particular, long-time Henkel associate, London-born Kate Strong, combines roles within each story with a status as overall commentator: most of her acting is done in German, almost all her narration in salty English. She makes a commanding MC as she lays bare the strategies for seizing or retaining power which underlie various figures’ conduct.

Adapters Karin Henkel and John von Düffel have not taken the maximalist approach of Ivo van Hove’s broadly similar stitching-together The Roman Tragedies, first seen in London in 2009. Two of the three plays here last less than an hour, the other (Julius Caesar) only a few minutes over. Shakespeare provides the spine of the text, but there is much paraphrasing and interpolation. In particular, long-time Henkel associate, London-born Kate Strong, combines roles within each story with a status as overall commentator: most of her acting is done in German, almost all her narration in salty English. She makes a commanding MC as she lays bare the strategies for seizing or retaining power which underlie various figures' conduct.

broadly similar stitching-together The Roman Tragedies, first seen in London in 2009. Two of the three plays here last less than an hour, the other (Julius Caesar) only a few minutes over. Shakespeare provides the spine of the text, but there is much paraphrasing and interpolation. In particular, long-time Henkel associate, London-born Kate Strong, combines roles within each story with a status as overall commentator: most of her acting is done in German, almost all her narration in salty English. She makes a commanding MC as she lays bare the strategies for seizing or retaining power which underlie various figures’ conduct.

broadly similar stitching-together The Roman Tragedies, first seen in London in 2009. Two of the three plays here last less than an hour, the other (Julius Caesar) only a few minutes over. Shakespeare provides the spine of the text, but there is much paraphrasing and interpolation. In particular, long-time Henkel associate, London-born Kate Strong, combines roles within each story with a status as overall commentator: most of her acting is done in German, almost all her narration in salty English. She makes a commanding MC as she lays bare the strategies for seizing or retaining power which underlie various figures’ conduct.

broadly similar stitching-together The Roman Tragedies, first seen in London in 2009. Two of the three plays here last less than an hour, the other (Julius Caesar) only a few minutes over. Shakespeare provides the spine of the text, but there is much paraphrasing and interpolation. In particular, long-time Henkel associate, London-born Kate Strong, combines roles within each story with a status as overall commentator: most of her acting is done in German, almost all her narration in salty English. She makes a commanding MC as she lays bare the strategies for seizing or retaining power which underlie various figures’ conduct.

 

This is a production which features buckets of blood, in the literal sense. It begins with a citizen painting the words “ROM REPUBLIK” on the backdrop in crimson liquid; shortly afterwards, Coriolanus is literally painted from the same bucket with the same brush by his mother (played by three people) in preparation for showing his war wounds to the Roman people to gain their votes. The swiftly dispatched Coriolanus – never mind about him leading an enemy army on Rome or all the actual story, this version effectively ends with his conviction for scorning the people (and the political conventions) – then becomes the dead Julius Caesar, over whose body Brutus and Antony contend. The play ends with the bloody anointing, not of either Antony or Cleopatra, but Caesarion.

Paradoxically, for a treatment so supposedly concerned with wider social forces, Henkel’s production – trimmed down to a cast of nine adults plus the boy Caesarion – dwells if anything more even than Shakespeare on individuals: Coriolanus and Volumnia, Brutus and Antony, the older Antony and Octavius. During the final phase, indeed, the proceedings seem to be about individuals’ competing ideas of the future rather than any overarching political view, and the focus of the evening seems to slip away just as, paradoxically, Henkel’s staging becomes most dynamic. It’s a pity that such a surprisingly persuasive approach seems, in the end, to run out of propositions to be persuasive about.

Written for the Financial Times.