Julius Caesar

We ask theater artists across the country to tell us why it isn’t.

Interested in politics and communication? Try our quiz and rearrange the lines of Mark Antony's "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech from Julius Caesar, a famous passage from Shakespeare's plays and a brilliant example of political oratory.

Early 19th-century American students would study speeches from Shakespeare’s plays as examples of good public speaking, not as literature. How did Shakespeare’s place in the school curriculum change?

Brutus (Anthony Cochrane, left) and Julius Caesar (Michael Sharon, right), Julius Caesar, directed by Robert Richmond, Folger Theatre, 2014. Photo by Teresa Wood. In 1599, in the 40th year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, when she had no heir or obvious…

Artist Paul Glenshaw describes drawing the Folger bas-relief of "Julius Caesar," in which assassins with their knives start to turn away as Caesar dies. He pairs the image with a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and a matching engraving at the Folger, which reflect the same scene just a moment later.

Read an excerpt from actor Paterson Joseph's book about playing the role of Brutus in the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed 2012 production of Julius Caesar.

A Soothsayer (Nafeesa Monroe, left) warns Caesar (Michael Sharon, center): “Beware the ides of March!” Julius Caesar, directed by Robert Richmond, Folger Theatre, 2014. Photo by Jeff Malet. The Soothsayer says, “Beware the Ides of March.” Suddenly a chill falls…