Feore gets critical praise in Broadway's 'Julius Caesar'
Last Updated: Monday, April 4, 2005 | 10:28 PM ET
CBC Arts
It's not surprising that Feore, a Stratford regular, should seem assured and effective on stage, playing the conniving Cassius.
But he is getting better reviews than the bigger star who appears with him, Denzel Washington playing Brutus.
Feore is well known in Canada for his portrayal of Pierre Trudeau in the award-winning CBC miniseries Trudeau in 2002. He also performed at the Stratford Festival for 14 years and has appeared in such Hollywood films as Chicago, Paycheck and The Chronicles of Riddick.
The New York Times called his performance "excellent" and the Associated Press called him "best of the lot...a fiercely manipulative Cassius who woos Brutus with the ardour of a true believer."
Washington was criticized for his subdued and occasionally inaudible performance. His portrait of Brutus, a man torn between his loyalty to Caesar and his devotion to Rome, lacked the searing internal conflict it ought to have, the Associated Press said.
Washington is well able to portray a conflicted character on screen, but he seems lost in this production, the New York Times said.
Most reviews focused on Washington's performance, with USA Today finding him "vigorous" and "credible," while it described Feore as "too florid."
Director Daniel Sullivan has set this Julius Caesar in a contemporary fascist state, which leaves lots of leeway for bloodshed and intrigue. The actors resemble Mafiosi in their tailored suits and Rome is a modern capital ruined by years of bloodletting.
Feore says the cast and the modern sets and costumes strive to create a world that today's audience will recognize.
That interpretation and Washington's appearance on stage are drawing many fans new to Shakespearean performance to the Belasco Theater.
Shakespeare's drama about politics, power and assassination could be set in any contemporary war zone, Feore says. "The idea being that it's in a state of grave security concerns. Everybody's edgy. Everybody's paranoid. It's a very dangerous and threatened world."
Feore says he likes that the casting on Broadway is colour-blind — with black, white and Hispanic actors taking on the historic roles.
But the New York Times found there were too many differences between actors "who seem to have arrived from different planets in the great galaxy of show business." Washington's naturalistic delivery of his lines contrasted with a classical interpretation of Shakespeare's language by Feore and Jessica Hecht as Portia, Brutus's wife.
The Washington Post singles out Eamonn Walker's impassioned "Lend me your ears" speech over Caesar's coffin as a high point of the play. The production is a sincere if flawed attempt, the paper said.
