Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre)

Btw, can you take bottles of water in?

Thanks! I'll try to.

Just got back and really loved it - as did the friend I'm converting back to theatregoing with 'immersive' stuff. The audience were lively and great around us, and it was wonderful to have the actors inches from you. If I lived in London I'd go again but luckily from were we were I think we got the best of it with the sightlines, though I might take my Mum to the live cinema broadcast if we're not too skint.

Waterwise, you cant take hangy shoulder bags in (or any bags at all except bumbags), but I shoved my bottle inside my jumper where it nestled on top of my bumbag - there is some smoke later on so I did need it. They sell beer and coke before the start of the play in the promenade area. Someone had taken a small child in which we worried about, given the mosh-pit-like pushing back when the stage platforms etc. were raised - not a problem for adults but might be a bit scary for a kid. If you have any mobility issues the promenade area probably isn't a good idea, though it may be more static nearer the edges - where we were, in the centre, on the right hand side (rhs from the stalls entrance door) there was a lot of stage changing - and actors pushing through - but that also meant we were right up close to the action.

This post, and others in the thread, confirm my observation that the large majority of the audience just chose an area to stand when they went in and largely stayed there (given some movement was required for scene changes and so on). I wonder why that was ? It is not at all necessary to do that, you are entirely free to walk around to the other side if you want both between and during scenes. I started where crowblack did but then there was a scene with Whishaw sitting at a table over the other side so I just walked over there. Doing that you can get in a good area for every scene. 

We were right at the front (and there were two of us, both quite short - I'm 5'5" and my friend is smaller!) and after a while many of the taller people (mostly men) seem to have moved back a bit - maybe because of the small child and her mother. I did think at first I should have brought my old mosh pit Buffalo or Swear platforms from my gig-going days but once we got to the front it was fine.

Saw this 2 weeks ago on a Sunday matinee. Overall, very impressed with the production. Saw it from row B in gallery 3 - a bargain at £25 for 2hrs great entertainment. Thought the band at the start really got the audience going and a great way to kick start the play. However I don’t think the people sat around me appreciated the volume! Visually it was great seeing it from so high up, though the atmosphere in the pit must have been something else having the actors so up close and personal.

For a Sunday afternoon, the theatre was well attended both in the pit and galleries from what I could see. Hopefully this continues for future productions. 

Saw it last night and I really really enjoyed it. Has standing tickets and was a bit apprehensive has have never stood for a show before but was worth it for the whole experience.The atmosphere in the pit was great and it was great to be involved in the action and feeling as though you were actually there. Stood on the outskirts of the promenade know as it looked a bit squished standing at the front but sometimes got really good positionslike when Caser enters beforehand the assissination or when they bring in his coffin, but where ever you stand in the pit you will have a good spot.At some points it wasn't quite nerve racking standing there when gun shots went off and lots of action happen during but that added to my enjoyement. The performances were all really good and liked th main four Whishaw, Fairely , Morrisey and Calden, also really like Adjo Andoh. The staging was great and it just felt great and contempry. This is how Shakespeare should be , relivint and exciting.

Just been to the matinee of this and absolutely loved it. I was in the gallery and the whole thing gripped me with its energy for the 2 hours (I actually wanted more.) I think this was Hytner's best Shakespeare production since Henry V in his early days at the NT (how much is he missed there now?) The stand outs for me were Whishaw and Morrissey. Incidentally I arrived early at The Bridge and he sat about two feet away from me, sharing a pot of tea with a couple who, I assume, had arrived early for the show.

The band is quite loud at the beginning and the battle scene at the end appeared to me quite realistic (read a piece last week on whether this would trigger a reaction for someone with PTSD) but no worse than a cinema soundtrack, .

My advice is be prepared for these instances and relish seeing a truly great Shakespeare production, maybe consider a seat over the promenade as you will be less immersed in all the noisy stuff.

Btw, I've been looking out for the BBC adaptation of China Mieville's The City and the City, and there's a BFI preview coming up with a Q&A with David Morrissey, so hopefully the series is imminent. Some of it was filmed just up the road from us, Liverpool standing in for somewhere East European (it was Prague once, in an Alan Bennett drama with D D-L)

That’s a great idea! Thanks for telling me. I’ll definitely invest in some!

I. Bloody. Loved. This.

I mean, I could write for hours, but this is one of the best pieces of theatre I’ve seen in a very long time - probably ever. It made me uncomfortable to start with, as I’d never been in an audience like it (I was standing in the pit). But once Brutus and Cassius came on and did their first scene I had relaxed and was fully enthralled for 2 hours. It’s a remarkable staging (Bunny Christie’s design is amazing) and the constant moving and things happening in different places kept me on my toes, which I enjoyed.
Ben Whishaw was so engaging and i loved watching the progression of Brutus. But I was blown away by Michelle Fairley as Cassius. She’s strangely daring but always as one eye looking over her shoulder.

I don’t normally enjoy Shakespeare - I sort of go out of obligation to try and see variety in theatre, but I absolutely loved this, and probably will go again!
5 stars without question.