The University of Mississippi Theatre Department is flipping the script with a vividly reimagined version of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.” The upcoming production, running Friday, April 11 to Sunday, April 13 at Fulton Chapel, will reframe the tale’s classic characters as power hungry teenage girls attending Rome Prep, an elite Catholic high school.
Under the direction of theater professor Lauren Noble, this gender-bent production features a predominantly female cast and a female stage manager. Noble’s adaptation keeps the heart of Shakespeare’s tragedy but filters it through the intense emotional world of teenage girls and high school halls filled with catty gossip.
The role of Caesar will be played by Cameron Collins, a sophomore theater and film student from Crossville, Tenn., whose portrayal channels a mix of iconic female pop-culture characters including Regina George and Blaire Waldorf.
Collins also took to studying TikToks of University of Alabama sorority sisters to help with Caesar’s development in “girl-world.”
“Caesar would totally be the president of her sorority. There is no flaw to her. She is perfect,” Collins said.
This is Ivy Comford’s first show as a stage manager. Comford, a sophomore theater production and English double major from Ocean Springs, Miss., described herself as “the secretary to the director.”
“People who haven’t read ‘Julius Caesar’ can come in and be captivated by this world,” Comford said. “It’s surprising how the original text can portray catty girl fights. … If you watch Julius Caesar from the original perspective, it is still catty, but it’s two guys talking at each other. Whenever you put two girls in, it makes sense — it feels right.”
True to the original “Julius Caesar” that Shakespeare crafted, backstabbing is to be expected. The knives are fake, but the betrayal is still devastating.
“It’s going to be bloody as hell,” Hannah Rose Richards, a senior theater major from Brandon, Miss., who plays Cassius, said. “You reach a point where blood is introduced, and I don’t think there is anyone that is free of blood for the rest of the show.”
The show offered the majority female cast a unique opportunity to bond with each other and learn from a female director — a signifier of how far theater has come since Shakespeare’s prime. For the seniors in the cast, this show is a chance to exhibit a culmination of their skills and their instinctual understanding of each other’s creative processes.
“Working with Lauren has been amazing.” Alexa Christian, a senior theater major from Memphis, who plays Trebonius, said. “She’s incredibly open minded about us making our choices, and I really feel like she’s been our role model in this.”
Rehearsals began in early March and will continue until opening night. The play was chosen last spring as the final performance of the season. Some theater students cast in the play enrolled in Assistant Professor of Performance Sam Massaro’s Shakespeare class for preparation. Although the setting is modern, the play still uses Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, which was a challenge for students.
“The class worked as a teaser for the show,” Richards said. “Getting to talk to (Massaro), who is excited and extremely knowledgeable about Shakespeare, is the only thing you need to understand it.”
According to Richards, Shakespeare’s words are timeless. It is true that many phrases used colloquially today like wild goose chase or break the ice come from him.
“What’s the most fun about Shakespeare is that characters when they are speaking are hardly ever deceiving the audience. Everything a character says is straight from the heart; it is exactly what they think and feel, and as an actor that is awesome, because all you have to do is speak before you think,” Richards said.
Whether the audience thinks this version would have Shakespeare rolling in his grave or delighted in the front row, it is shaping up to be a memorable performance.
“He’d probably hate it if I’m going to be honest,” Comford said. “I think he would be open to the interpretation, but we all kind of know Shakespeare as writing for men. I think he would see ‘Julius Caesar’ as a man’s play, but I think audiences now will connect with it.”
Comford emphasized that the play will deliver both artistic education and a shock factor.
“I hope people leave with a deeper appreciation of the art,” Comford said. “But mostly, I hope they walk out thinking, ‘WTF just happened?’”
The show will open April 11 at 7:30 p.m., followed by performances on April 12 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and April 13 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through the UM Box Office.
