Vivat RSC! No, seriously. Vivat in Aeternum!

So. My favorite performance of Shakespeare ever has been, for two years, the Blackfriars production of Henry V that came to Sweet Briar. It was genius, absolutely revelatory; it had me on my feet cheering.

As of last night, it has a formidable rival.

We saw Julius Caesar as done by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and whoa. It was gorgeously staged, for one thing. The stage itself is a thrust with two alleys going through the ground audience, so they could and did roam pretty much anywhere. They set the play in Rome, which I really liked - transposing is fine, but it was just fantastic to see this one adhering to place and time. (Fun variations on the toga, and the women's costumes were FANTASTIC.)

And they did it bloody. The assassination was horrific - it took Caesar a long time to die, and while I could barely watch it, I could not look away. Actually, they started the play as soon as the audience was filing in, with two actors playing Romulus and Remus. It was extremely cool. They slunk around the stage, crawling, never standing, almost fetal; not speaking, but growling; very primordial, very wolflike, very frightening. By the end, when the audience was all seated, they had broken out into their fight (that was the only time they stood upright), which ended with Romulus killing Remus by biting through his neck. So we had the idea of essential savagery established right from the beginning.

Then on came the play. Simply marvelous on all counts. Brutus was incredible - tortured but honorable in the first half, and he played the second half as if the pressures of the first had turned him into a human powderkeg. It worked marvelously. He was genuinely shocking in the quarrel scene. (I'd also never spotted the moment when he decides to himself to join the conspiracy; it gave me chills in this performance.) I had never imagined Cassius played with half as much integrity as the actor last night gave him, but it works marvelously - his plans may be doomed, but he truly means them for the best, and you couldn't doubt his affection for Brutus. Which all makes it impossible to hate him as the instigator, so you have to commit to him as a tragic character. Fantastic.

Antony was an incredible surprise - as, of course, he should be. They cast a rather heavy actor as Antony, and I was a bit confused - wasn't he supposed to be more imposing? But what that did was fabulous: I'd underestimated Antony just as much as the conspirators do, and when he let loose with the funeral oration, I was blown away. He was incredible, electric. The tension between him and Octavius made me wish they'd just go right into Antony and Cleopatra when Caesar ended.

AND THE THEATER HAD SEATS WITH BUILT-IN CUSHIONS! MADE OF WIN!

I am thrilled that we're going back to Stratford for our third play, not to the Globe. It's great to have been at the Globe, but in terms of which production I'd rather see - no choice.

We actually got there two hours before the show, so we wandered around and explored. They milk the tourist thing for all it's worth in Stratford (Anne Hathaway's Bakery, a pub called Othello's, Midsummer House, etc.). Holy Trinity Church (also known as the site of Shakespeare's grave) was closed by the time we got there. But we did wander around it:



It was very quiet. Not eerie quiet, just peaceful quiet. I liked it a lot.

It was also beautiful:



Next time we go to Stratford, we go for a matinee. And then I will see The Grave. And I think, although I'm not sure how it's possible, the play will be just as good.