We cats haven't seen the New York Public Theater's new production of Julius Caesar, but we're amused at the kerfuffle it's kicking up.
(And yes, we're already on record as hating Kathy Griffin's Trump decapitation video, and no, that has nothing to do with this latest staging of Caesar — despite the right wingers who are trying mighty hard to link the two.)
It's Shakespeare, folks. And people have been interpreting and re-interpreting the Bard for hundreds of years. We've seen a Nazi Richard III, a Japanese Lear and — most famous and popular — a street-gang version of Romeo and Juliet. So what if we have a Trumpy Caesar? He's just the latest in a long line of Shakespearean characters recast in forms that modern audiences will recognize and relate to.
While it's a tactic that helps us all slash through the thickets of Elizabethan language, in this case it apparently went over the Trumpsters' heads. The message of Julius Caesar is the pointlessness of political violence. Guess those alt-righters weren't paying attention in English literature class!
Now, Donald and Melania in the Scottish play — that would be something. King Duncan would be, of course, Uncle Sam. We cats PURR.
No comments:
Post a Comment