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A sharp, sophisticated 'Julius Caesar' Mark Antony (Jordan Barbour) comforts Calpurnia (Amy Kim Waschke) after the assassination of Julius Caesar (Armando Duran). [Photo by Jenny Graham] Monday Feb 27, 2017 at 7:57 PM Feb 27, 2017 at 7:57 PM By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings “There are no tricks in plain and simple faith." —William Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar" Shana Cooper has faith in language. In her approach to Oregon Shakespeare Festival's new production of "Julius Caesar," the director has made that philosophy clear. To her mind, the story of the Roman consul — whether it be told by Shakespeare or by Plutarch — speaks for itself. As such, Cooper has placed a great deal of emphasis on a kind of monolithic visual context in which to anchor her vision for the play. The set, conceived by designer Sibyl Wickersheimer, is created equal to any actor lucky enough to creep its boards. In a weirdly effective juxtaposition of modernism and tradition, Cooper and her team have constructed an environment that is deliciously unsettling. In so doing, she has effectively established an omnipresent atmosphere of foreboding. When the lights come up, patrons are greeted by a strange, grey, walled performance space in various states of collapse. Upstage center is a monolithic, looming entity wrapped in white plastic — a brilliant reference to "Wrapped Reichstag," the 1995 land art project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, in which the artists literally entombed the emblem of Hitler's rise to power in a shroud of silvery fabric. As the play progresses, chunks of the wall that surround center stage begin to break away and vanish, a potent reference to late 1980s Berlin. A Greek chorus of masked actors pay homage to power. When Caesar himself appears (played smartly as a kind of regally self-involved Tony Montana by OSF veteran Armando Duran), he is felled in theater's most famous assassination. He too becomes an art object — left onstage for some long minutes, a blood-smeared corpse emblematic of the death of the State. In the scenes that follow, decay turns to civil war and anarchy. The theme of societal decline continues to provoke as actors accost the audience with an intensely choreographed interpretation of revolutionary zeal, bodies tensed and knives thrusting. The production couldn't be more timely. In contemporary America, the idea of perception vs. reality is front and center, as conflicting ideologies clash in the court of public opinion. Caesar and Brutus are both heroes to some and villains to others. Their ability to sway the crowd to their point of view is literally a life or death situation. Reliance on omenic utterances and fealty to the flat earth should long since have yielded to the voices of logic. Regrettably, the power of prophesy remains alive and well in the 21st century. The play is an intensely male tragedy. As such, it's unsurprising that the strongest acting of the night came from male actors. In addition to a strong turn from Duran, the best performances were from Danforth Comins as Brutus, Rodney Gardiner as Cassius and Jordan Barbour as Mark Antony. While the rest of the cast were up to a high standard, these four artists served as the sinewy core of the action. It is easy to predict that this production will be seen as controversial by some who pine for a more popular interpretation of Shakespeare. The aesthetic choices being made are sharp and sophisticated, and they operate under the assumption that the audience is sharp and sophisticated, too. If you're willing to leave your assumptions at the door, OSF's "Julius Caesar" is the kind of theater that will stick with you, open your eyes and keep you thinking. — Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at [email protected].