Playwright: William Shakespeare
At: Oak Park Festival Theatre at Austin Gardens, Forest & Ontario
Avenues in Oak Park
Phone: 708-445-4440; $10-$25
Runs through: Aug. 15
BY MARY SHEN BARNIDGE
The growl of a plane flying overhead just at the moment that Brutus speaks of ' [ t ] he exhalations, whizzing in the air, give so much light' added insult to injury. It's hard enough holding an audience's interest with a 400-year-old tale of even mossier political intrigues unalleviated by a single bawdy joke to draw a cheap laugh. ( How, one wonders, did Shakespeare ever manage it? ) But then you've got the distractions introduced by an outdoor stage surrounded by the noises associated with suburban village ambiance.
Under the direction of David Mink, however, this Oak Park Festival production overcomes these obstacles remarkably well. The setting has been updated from Rome in 43 B.C. to the military sector of an unnamed country circa 1963. We first see the title character attired in all his medals, the popular hero of a dubious war, already under pressure to assume leadership of the nation. But disgruntled subordinate Cassius persuades the ambivalent Brutus to join him and his fellow officers in fragging their commander, not taking into account the eloquence of Marc Antony, who deftly spin-doctors public sympathies against the assassins.
The company varies in its martial bearing—Paul Perroni's Cassius is ready for his own action figure, but Jason Ball's Brutus has the portliness of a committed desk jockey while John McFarland's beefy Caesar dwarfs even his consort, Calpurnia ( played by the diminutive Kelly Lynn Hogan ) . But their opening night displayed an astute comprehension of their adaptation's context that should grow as the run progresses ( and weather improves ) . Chris Petschler lends catalyzing fire to his portrayal of the avenging Antony, as does James Dolson as his allies' General Octavius, while Phil Carlin contributes an avuncular gravity in the role of senator Messala.
But what first arrests our attention are the words 'Security gives way to conspiracy', warning of Caesar's death and its aftermath of war, guilt and self-destruction—civil unrest enacted by an ensemble of athletic GIs drilled by ex-Army sergeant Robert Behr and combat-trained by the aforementioned McFarland. However arguable the analogies to America in 2006, you can't go wrong with men and women in uniform.
