Julius Caesar (The Public Theater) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (171)
See it if you want to see what the fuss is about.
Don't see it if you are not down with the Shakespeare in the Park experience. Read more
See it if You enjoy well made Shakespeare even if you don't like the subject matter. I saw this before all the hype blew it out of proportion.
Don't see it if This is not my favorite Shakespeare play. It just isn't, and no matter how good the production was, I'm just never going to love this play.
See it if you like like modernized versions of Shakespeare.
Don't see it if you don't like Trump being lampooned.
See it if you like modern re-stagings, great use of extras.
Don't see it if you can't get over Trump-as-Caesar. The metaphor didn't really work for me.
See it if you want to see an updated take on Caesar taking current headlines as its basis.Some terrific cast members who make the darker elements work
Don't see it if you don't want to see Caesar as Trump, or to watch the play feel like an extended SNL skit. Never boring and ambitious take but odd to watch Read more
See it if Gregg Henry and Nikki James were wonderful. You want to see more of Trump. Cell phones and Shakespeare are not an oxymoron to you.
Don't see it if You dont like modernized, smirky, gender blind casting. You want an intermission in 2 1/4 hours. Boring sets, noninformative costumes.
See it if you're interested in the whole debate about artistic expression and censorship.
Don't see it if you'd be offended at the depiction of Trump being killed. Read more
See it if If you are okay with Julius Caesar being compared to America's political system. But it also sticks to the story of Julius Caesar.
Don't see it if If you are not okay with the play being compared to our political system.
Critic Reviews (38)
"It’s the Bard and not a Trumpified Caesar who gets assassinated in this tasteless and ill-conceived production—which has the presumably unintended effect of making Trump into a powerfully sympathetic character before it ultimately sputters into narrative incoherence...Eustis’ 'Julius Caesar' buckles under the weight of its cleverness and dissolves into confusion (and some tedium) just when it should be gathering momentum."
Read more
“Eustis doesn’t sand down the subtleties and ironies of the text to score cheap points…The play is there, acted by a strong ensemble. Stoll renders Brutus faithfully as an unshowy, principled bureaucrat, and Thompson has crafted the most noble and righteous Cassius I’ve seen. Sure, Cheeto Caesar is a gimmick born of anger and disgust, but it’s a gimmick with teeth — and one we need in order to probe the ever-widening fault lines between showmanship and ethical statecraft."
Read more
"The immediate result is that these olden characters from ancient Rome seem to be of our time, speaking directly to us...Eustis heightens the effect by building the production on contemporary performances from strong stage performers...The current Trumpian version is attention getting, certainly, and enhances the drama. The real-to-life links go astray, methinks, once the title character meets his fate on the Ides of March and cedes the spotlight for most of the rest of the evening."
Read more
"The updating and non-traditional acting assignments largely work out...My only quarrel with this black-and-white concept is it robs the play of Shakespeare’s rich, grey-hued ambiguities...Despite this shortcoming, Eustis has created a stirring and gripping 'Caesar' which barrels along at a rapid two hours with no intermission...This is probably the most political transposition of 'JC' from ancient Rome to a contemporary setting to play on or Off-Broadway."
Read more
"Eustis isn’t going for subtlety...Populated with actors from no fewer than three of TV’s politically styled dramas, this 'Caesar' builds on anti-Trump asides forced into new children’s musicals this season and addressed in full-scale works like 'Building the Wall'...It’s shocking to see a band of conspirators in modern dress take turns plunging a dagger into the body of a leader so clearly modeled on America’s own...Henry's Caesar blusters and leers with every line...It’s quite a performance."
Read more
"A blunt and vital revival that clearly speaks to our own times...These fine actors are capable of rendering the text clearly in American accents, and they’ve been directed to perform truthfully in a contemporary manner...I think some of the topical references were unsubtle; I think I’d have preferred to let the play speak for itself in terms of its relevance to the Trump Administration. But it’s the sort of experiment for which The Public is famous."
Read more
"Not everyone is happy with what can only be termed a gimmick...But for those who appreciate Shakespeare and good drama, the production should be equally shoddy. The main problem is that all the buffoonery takes the focus off the play’s true protagonist, Brutus...While Caesar makes his grand entrances, the other actors seem at loose ends...We certainly have more to worry about than an ill-conceived 'Julius Caesar' that’s good for a few laughs and not much more."
Read more
“Oskar Eustis has slimmed down and sharpened Shakespeare's ‘Julius Caesar’ to make a stinging political point: Democracy is fragile and Donald Trump is not the worst thing that can happen to America...This ‘Caesar’ is mind-crushingly good, in no small part because it speaks precisely to our times…It is, perhaps, too on-the-nose; but it is not — as conservative and alt-right media outlets have suggested — a show that glorifies the assassination of the President."
Read more