Phyllida Lloyd's All-Female JULIUS CAESAR to Open at The Other Place Following Schools Tour

​The Royal Shakespeare Company, in partnership with KPPL Productions, will see Phyllida Lloyd's all-female production of Julius Caesar complete its five-week schools' tour across England with a sold out, run throughout November at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, having played to over 3500 young people across Peterborough, Newquay, Bradford, Nottingham and Blackpool throughout the Autumn.

Led by Olivier Award-winning actor Dame Harriet Walter as Brutus, the production has taken up residence for one week in RSC Associate Schools in Peterborough, Newquay, Bradford, Nottingham and Blackpool, presenting performances to students alongside a programme of workshops, discussions, curriculum activity and opportunities for young people to gain practical insight into careers in theatre.

First staged at The Donmar Warehouse in 2012 as the opening instalment of Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Shakespeare Trilogy, Julius Caesar was subsequently presented in London, New York, prisons and schools. The 2016 production was filmed with the BBC and is available to view via Digital Theatre, Drama Online and Amazon Prime Video.

This new touring production of Julius Caesar forms part of RSC's First Encounters with Shakespeare programme which creates 90 minute versions of Shakespeare's plays for young people who may be encountering his work in performance for the first time.

At each stop on the five-week tour in schools, teachers from different subject areas adapted lessons to connect with the production and its themes. Members of the company took part in workshops and extracurricular activity, including specially curated debates, career talks and conversations with students about the contemporary relevance of the play and how young people might use their own voices to create change within their communities.

Director Phyllida Lloyd said, “Our pledge with Harriet to take Julius Caesar into schools marks our belief that young people deserve world-class theatre — the absolute best of the best. If they cannot afford to come to us, we are coming to them. When we first produced Julius Caesar in 2012, the world was a different place. Obama had just begun his second term in office and dictatorships were crumbling across the Arab world. Now populist leaders proliferate, 'NO KINGS!' marches take place across the USA and international laws are no longer sacred.

Throughout the sold-out run at The Other Place, audiences will be invited to join a series of Post Show Talks covering topics inspired by the production including: Who is influencing the next generation – and to what effect? When political leadership falls short, what can we do? Is prison ever the right place for women? Is the education system failing vulnerable young people? and Can art save lives? Contributors include Manuella Perteghella MP, Geoff Barton, Rachel Frank, Dr Sonya Ruparel, Paula Harriott (Unlock Collective), representatives from the Remand Collective and No More Exclusions, and young voices from the Positive Youth Foundation's Changemakers programme, amongst other voices from the creative and education sectors.

The production has also renewed Phyllida Lloyd and KPPL Productions' collaboration with Criminal Justice Associate Artist Rachel Frank and women from HMP New Hall. Julius Caesar company members visited the HMP New Hall drama group weekly through rehearsals, with the full company spending two days working with them ahead of the schools' tour. The women involved have developed their own creative responses to Julius Caesar, these will be shared via an exhibition at The Other Place.

Each Associate School on the tour invited their Young Creatives to explore aspects of the play that felt most relevant and resonant to them, developing their own creative responses. Their work will be shared as part of a Young Creatives Festival at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, on Saturday 21 November 2026.

Curated by the RSC's Youth Advisory Board, the festival will bring together 200 young people from across the tour who will be sharing their own creative work responding to the production and the kinds of change they want to see in their schools and communities.

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Ancient Rome is brought to the stage at The Other Place as a group of female 'prisoners' present a 90-minute version of Julius Caesar. By acting out this story of leadership, control and corruption, their own fights for freedom and justice, and the power politics of prison life, come into harsh focus.

Caesar's growing dominance in Rome places democracy at risk. A group of conspirators recruits the popular senator Brutus to help assassinate Caesar and reclaim the republic for its citizens. But as terror and chaos take hold, Shakespeare's politically charged play exposes how the violent overthrow of a tyrant rarely leads to a peaceful outcome.

Joining Dame Harriet Walter as Brutus are original company members Jackie Clune as Julius Caesar, Leah Harvey as Mark Antony, Jennifer Joseph as Trebonius, Jenny Jules as Cassius and Carolina Valdés as Casca.

They are joined by Kosar Ali as Calpurnia, Metellus Cimber and Pindarus; Shona Babayemi as Cinna the Conspirator; Darcy Dixon as Lucius; Shalisha James-Davis as Portia and Octavius; and Siân Stephens as the Soothsayer.

The production is directed by Phyllida Lloyd, with set and costume design by Bunny Christie, lighting design by Zeynep Kepekli, original sound design by Tom Gibbons, sound design by Pete Malkin, original movement direction by Ann Yee, movement direction by Carolina Valdés, fight direction by Kate Waters, casting by Matthew Dewsbury CDG, original casting by Anne McNulty and Vicky Richardson, and voice and text work by Barbara Houseman.

The associate director is Jordana Golbourn, the associate set designer is Reiltin Hart, and the associate Costume Designer is Deborah Andrews. First Encounters: Julius Caesar plays at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, from Thursday 5 to Saturday 28 November 2026.