The touring theatre company Tangle have been championing African and Caribbean excellence since its formation in 2009. Mainly operating out of home theatres in Southampton and the south west, they create new work but also radically adapt classic texts, writes Christopher Peacock.
Anna Coombs is the creative driving force behind this production and it is their adaptation and direction that is presented to us. The tale of the downfall and Julius Caesar and the fallout thereafter has been widely produced and references taken from the play have sprinkled the cultural landscape. Coombs’ adaptation is heavily abridged. The characters reduced down to the bare bones with two of the five performers doubling up on a few of the spoken roles.
Where this version does succeed is with the Soothsayer, a West African diviner who translates flawlessly; Yaw Osafo-Kantanka proves to be the perfect vessel for the role. In tribal paint, the dancing, drumming and chanting from the Soothsayer drives the drama. The cautionary ‘Beware the Ides of March’ starts a journey in a role that hits its creative zenith with a call and response with the audience enacting the rousing rabble of Romans on the verge of civil war.
Of the other performances Samatar Ahmed as Mark Anthony stood out.They were on-book as a late understudy but even with script in hand had a real connection to the prose.
Being so heavily abridged, a fair amount of plotting and discussion is by-passed. This creates a show that runs just under two hours with an interval but loses depth of storytelling. Another interesting decision is the unwillingness to step fully into an African production. The cast’s wardrobe hints at the Pan-African production that the Soothsayer role is committed to, but does not go all the way. Roland Royal III’s Julius Caesar has an American accent and swagger, Samya De Meo’s Cassius is also American but there does not seem any reasoning or guidance behind these choices.
The room is certainly there for an African-centric adaptation. It does not take too much imagination to see how the music, movement and vocal work of many African cultures plays into the hands of Shakespeare’s penchant for premonition and mysticism. This Tangle Theatre Company production has the core of something that could bring an original perspective to a classic play but is caught a little at a crossroads. It either needs to be tighter and offer more of the physical and visually arresting scenes, or broaden the cast and roles to get into the politics of the play.
Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common Northside, London. SW4 0QW until November 15th.
Booking and full details: https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/julius-caesar-2/
