Julius Caesar (RSC)

This is generally good.

Well acted all round. Alex Waldmann portrays Brutus' concerns and regrets before succumbing to his own ego

Very impressed by Martin Hutson as Cassius. Very persuasive but when the deed is done he is almost stumbling over his words with exultation. I am sure it's not him stumbling over his lines

James Corrigan is yet to make an impact for me unfortunately. The dogs of war soliloquy was lacking drive. Hope friends romans countrymen is better

The highlight for me though is Andrew Woodall as Caesar. He isn't just commanding, he owns the few scenes he appears in. Trying to remember a Caesar who really grabbed my attention

I'll say this for James Corrigan, he delivers friends romans countrymen very convincingly. He doesn't raise his voice or talks down to the citizens. He talks on their level with enough charm to hide his cold manipulative side

I suppose I'd prefer to see an Antony who still feels genuine grief and anger for Caesar's dearth that drives him to do what he does (Ray Fearon and Hans Kensing). Corrigan briefly shows that but otherwise he is Antony who is always on the lookout for advancement.

Generally I've seen better but this is still admirable. I enjoyed Martin Hutson's petulant Cassius and Alex Waldmann gives a sincere performance as the concerned Brutus. I certainly felt a genuine friendship between the two as they gave their final farewells

A solid production - if you want to see a straightforward traditional production, this is ideal for you. Everyone swanning about in togas and sandals. No gender swapping and all the main cast white, which felt quite odd these days

One genuinely shocking moment (which I suspect the reviews will spoil) got a gasp from much of the audience

Good performances all round, Waldmann (good to see him back at the RSC and Corrigan great. Corrigan has the look of a young Derek Nimmo.

Could one of you kindly share it behind a spoiler tag please? I'd like to read it but appreciate your kindly keeping it out of public view.

The first review I've seen of JC gives away the shock moment above!

Anthony and Cleopatra was more a more interesting production than JC I thought. Used elements of the same set design as JC, everyone still in togas etc. Largely the same ensemble, Waldmann not in A&c (odd seeing them in the same day as James Corrigan is in A&C as Agrippa). I will be interested to see other reactions to Josette Simon's performance which I enjoyed but was somewhat idiosyncratic.

Enhanced security for both, I presume due to the attack in London. Bag searches at every entrance to the auditorium, at the start and after the interval. Also oddly during A&C (but not JC) quite a few police in the foyer and a couple of vans outside. I came to the conclusion this may have been due to them expecting an anti-BP protest - I was followed on twitter by an anti-BP account after tweeting about JC in the afternoon.

Amusement during JC - a lot of RSC staff were watching the performance. Behind me were three people who judging by their conversation were involved in Snow in Midsummer and wanted to make sure everyone knew it by talking loudly about it. Highlight was one of them expressing their shock at how ludicrously high the RSC's ticket prices are.

Indeed, this was widely trailed months ago.

If you want to know what a Goold RSC would have looked like look at the Almeida. Look at the media buzz around their Greek season compared to the damp squib of the RSC Roman season. Look at the way Goold has promoted the career of Robert Icke - no such mentoring from Doran, everyone plays second fiddle to him. Their current Roman Shakespeare plays look like simply a supporting act for the big money-spinning Cicero trilogy which of course Doran has grabbed for himself.

i think the key seems to be the Doran approach as ,so rightly identified.Many years left however,i suspect,to complete the rather daft ALL plays commitment.Reduces way the plays can reflect current world situation.No sense of event upon avon......

That's a good perk! Hadn't realised you could use it to upgrade from a restricted view seat!

There's a couple of offers they've advertised on twitter working on different dates - £15 tickets here t.co/iPSOoJcWEh and £10 tickets here t.co/U6M9hqYBNp

In the otherwise good Greg Doran production of the play Harriet Walter also adopted an odd and distracting accent somewhat like the popular singer of yesteryear Nana Mouskouri.

No but she had the hair.

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