RSC Friends

Photograph by Ikin Yum.

Greg Doran’s Cicero play provides a powerful summary of his Roman season. Once again RSC examines the forces that threaten democracy and draws parallels with contemporary politics. Similarities are pointed up by seating part of the audience on stage where they become alternately an ad hoc senate or mob.

Cicero, master of rhetoric tries to save the Republic by exposing corruption and treason but is eventually compromised and called a hypocrite by populist politicians who cynically claim to be defenders of the poor.

Music and staging contribute hugely to this production by evoking the grandeur and pomp of Rome whilst also suggesting menace as the drums roll like peals of thunder. The stage is bathed in a bronze light, a scored and cratered sphere hangs above and the inscrutable eyes of a god or hero survey the unfolding tragedy.