Julius Caesar review, The Donmar

This first all-women version of Julius Caesar confirms that gender is immaterial if a cast and a play are top notch. Nonetheless, Phyllida Lloyd's production is set in a women's prison so there's a narrative framework for the casting. The story runs as a play within a play and this occasionally impedes the action and our sense of reality. The prison setting also minimises opportunities for gore as all weapons are plastic. That's a disappointment when Caesar's bloody dispatch is so moving.

Wo-man empire

What is outstanding are the two central performances - Harriet Walter looking like Christopher Walken as she takes on Brutus, and Jenny Jules as a sexily singular and swaggering Cassius. The dramatic tension in their shared scenes is perfect. When Frances Barber barrels in as Caesar, prowling and lolling in a black beret like a Provo wafted in from the Falls Road circa 1978, the scene is set for death and destruction.

The Donmar has been reconfigured with overhead prison walkways that are well used, and a multi tasking cast that sings and plays instruments. The interruptions of prison life are amusing distractions, but what isn't clear is if some of the cast are in role as prisoners rather Romans. Clare Dunne is one-note celtic and over-cooked in every part she plays, but Cush Jumbo is a moving Mark Antony. Alas, Antony's iconic 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen' speech loses some power for beginning while his face is pressed against a concrete floor, but it's still a corker.

In conclusion: The story of Caesar's betrayal by Brutus and Mark Antony's rallying peroration at Caesar's funeral is an old favourite. There are uneven shifts in this production and the framing sometimes detracts, but it's highly entertaining.

References
Donmar, tickets
Michael Billington review in The Guardian