Betrayal never goes out of style

Julius Caesar: Rome, Inc

Te Manawa Gallery 5

Directed by Joy Green

Reviewed by Thom Conroy

Adaptations are a bit like driving the wrong way in rush hour traffic - it's possible you might survive, but why would you risk it?

Transferring the lines of ancient Romans into the mouths of 1980s corporate moguls is audacious, and when I first heard that director Joy Green was adapting Shakespeare's Julius Caesar into a production called Julius Caesar: Rome, Inc at Te Manawa, I was uncertain. What do the ambitions of 2000-year-old statesmen have to do with contemporary corporate greed and office politics? The answer, it turns out, is more than you might think.

Rome, Inc begins with the corporate entity of Rome in trouble. Caesar, played by Bruce Sinclair, is the chief executive and undisputed champion of the company, popular with the employees and usually one step ahead of the exclusively male board of directors, but a group of female conspirators is tired of bumping heads against the glass ceiling. Through a series of dastardly betrayals and backroom strategies, these corporate climbers are planning a hostile takeover - and when Caesar falls, we can be sure he won't go alone. As Kay S Cassius, Sasha Lipinsky gives a sly performance, managing to convey the subdued but complex strategy of an ambitious financial director. Jess McClean, cast as personnel director Marcia Brutus, makes a perfect co-conspirator; and when Brutus and Cassius share the stage it simmers with a diabolical sense of corporate intrigue.

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar calls for an enormous cast and Green has made the commendable decision not to water down the number of actors. The well-populated troupe in Rome, Inc evokes the power of a bustling corporation whose myriad employees would pose a management challenge to any chief executive. Working with a minimalist set, Green succeeds in effortlessly choreographing the manifold exits and entrances, creating a flurry that reinforces our sense of an impending disaster.

With a wee bit of dialogue finessing - so little that those unfamiliar with Shakespeare's play might miss it altogether - Rome, Inc draws our attention to just how little has changed under the sun. One of the most shocking aspects of Green's adaptation is how perfectly suited the gender-switching seems - remarkably, some lines almost make more sense when spoken by the female characters in the remake than by the males in the original. The marvel of the play, however, is not merely that ancient Rome and modern Wall Street happen to have things in common, but that Julius Caesar: Rome, Inc is able to communicate something universal, albeit unpleasant, about us all: the shape of greed may shift as the centuries pass, but our penchant for betrayal and politicking never goes out of style.

Julius Caesar: Rome, Inc continues at Te Manawa, Gallery 5, on Friday and Saturday at 7.30pm, with a matinee on Saturday at 2pm.