Julius Caesar: The 30-Minute Shakespeare. William Shakespeare

when students perform Shakespeare. They “get” it. By occupying the characters and speaking the words out loud, students gain a level of understanding and appreciation that is unachievable by simply reading the text. That is the magic of a performance-based method of learning Shakespeare, and this book makes the formerly daunting task of staging a Shakespeare play possible for anybody.

      With The 30-Minute Shakespeare book series I hope to help teachers and students produce a Shakespeare play in a short amount of time, thus jump-starting the process of discovering the beauty, magic, and fun of the Bard. Plot, theme, and language reveal themselves through the performance of these half-hour play cuttings, and everybody involved receives the priceless gift of “owning” a piece of Shakespeare. The result is an experience that is fun and engaging, and one that we can all carry with us as we play out our own lives on the stages of the world.

       NICK NEWLIN

       Brandywine, MDMarch 2010

       CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

      The following is a list of characters that appear in this cutting of Julius Caesar.

       For the full breakdown of characters, see Sample Program.

       SOOTHSAYER

       CHORUS

      JULIUS CAESAR: A great Roman general

      CALPURNIA: Caesar’s wife

      ANTONY: A loyal friend of Caesar

      BRUTUS: A high ranking nobleman

      PORTIA: Brutus’s wife

       CINNA THE POET

       GHOST OF CAESAR

      PINDARUS: Slave to Cassius

       NARRATOR

       SCENE 1. (ACT I, SCENE II)

       A public place.

      Enter NARRATOR from stage rear, coming downstage center. Enter CHORUS from stage right and stage left, making a “V” shape behind NARRATOR.

       NARRATOR

      A soothsayer warns Caesar of a dangerous day for him. Cassius is afraid that Caesar will become king and urges Brutus to oppose him. An ill wind blows. (CHORUS wave arms to emulate wind.)

      Exit NARRATOR stage left.

      Enter SOOTHSAYER from stage left, blindly feeling his way forward. Enter CINNA THE POET from stage left to guide SOOTHSAYER to CHORUS at center stage.

      Enter JULIUS CAESAR, ANTONY, CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, TREBONIUS, and METELLUS CIMBER from stage right.

      At CAESAR’S entrance, CHORUS hum flourish.

       CAESAR

      Calpurnia!

      CASCA (silencing crowd with a wave of his hand)

      Peace, ho! Caesar speaks.

      CAESAR (gesturing)

      Calpurnia!

       CALPURNIA

      Here, my lord.

       CAESAR

      Antonius!

       ANTONY

      Caesar, my lord?

       SOOTHSAYER

      Caesar!

      Beware the ides of March.

      (louder and with more intensity) Beware the ides of March.

       CAESAR

      He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.

      Exit ALL stage left except BRUTUS and CASSIUS.

      STAGE RIGHT CHORUS hum flourish.

      STAGE LEFT CHORUS (shouting)

      Hail Caesar!

       BRUTUS

      What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Caesar for their king.

       CASSIUS

      Ay, do you fear it?

      Then must I think you would not have it so.

       BRUTUS

      What is it that you would impart to me?

       CASSIUS

      I was born free as Caesar; so were you:

      We both have fed as well, and we can both

      Endure the winter’s cold as well as he:

      And this man

      Is now become a god.

      STAGE RIGHT CHORUS (shouting)

      Hail Caesar!

       CASSIUS

      Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

      Like a Colossus, and we petty men

      Walk under his huge legs and peep about

      To find ourselves dishonorable graves.

      Men at some time are masters of their fates:

      The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

      But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

      Brutus—

      CHORUS (shouting)

      Brutus!

       CASSIUS

      —and Caesar.

      CHORUS (shouting)

      Caesar!

       CASSIUS

      What should be in that ‘Caesar’?

      Why should that name be sounded more than yours?

       BRUTUS

      My noble friend, chew upon this:

      Brutus had rather be a villager

      Than to repute himself a son of Rome

      Under these hard conditions as this time

      Is like to lay upon us.

      CHORUS hum flourish.

      Re-enter CAESAR, ANTONY, CALPURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS BRUTUS, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, CASCA, TREBONIUS, and METELLUS CIMBER from stage left.

       CAESAR

      Antonius!

       ANTONY

      Caesar?

       CAESAR

      Let me have men about me that are fat;

      Yond