 ONE NIGHT OF SHAKESPEARE - THE PLAYS
Julius Caesar
Based on actual events, Julius Caesar is one of Shakespeare's most dramatic plays.
The great military leader Julius Caesar returns to Rome a hero after defeating the Gauls and Pompey's army. The senators see the public reaction and are worried about Caesar's loyalties and think he has become a threat to Rome. After he refuses for the third time to accept a crown offered to him by Mark Antony, the senators plot against Caesar. They call for the help of Marcus Brutus. Brutus is known for his idealism and integrity and is worried that Caesar will become a tyrant if he becomes King, but he is also his friend, so he is torn.
Eventually after much persuasion, especially from Cassius, Brutus agrees that killing Caesar is the only option. However he refuses to carry out the senator's wish to also kill Antony. Caesar, against advice, visits the senate where he is stabbed to death by Brutus, Cassius and the rest.
Mark Antony mourns Caesar's death but he makes out he supports the clan. At his funeral Brutus explains to the crowd that Caesar was killed because he was too ambitious. Antony follows this with the well known "Friends, Romans, and countrymen" speech, where he is able to stir the crowd into supporting Caesar once again and call for the blood of his killers.
Antony plots with Caesar's nephew and Lepidus to take control of Rome but Brutus and Cassius raise an army to stop them.
In a final battle Brutus takes early control but the tide turns and it is Antony and his army who take power. Brutus and Cassius both take their own lives before they can be captured by the new rulers of Rome.
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