BWW Reviews: JULIUS CAESAR, St Paul's Church, Covent Garden, July 1 2013

With all those alpha males - and there's codpieces to complement the body armour, if the testosterone-fuelled dialogue wasn't enough - things were always going to turn ugly pretty quickly once the plot was afoot. And, in the incongruously peaceful environment of St Paul's Church, the blood soon spurts.

Iris Theatre's version of Shakespeare's dramatisation of the assassination of Julius Caesar and its aftermath (which does not turn out well for the conspirators - the play runs through July, not Bruty, after all) is a gruelling three-hour examination of the weaknesses of men.

Matthew Mellalieu is a big Brian Blessed of a Caesar - too young and too imposing to show the would-be King's physical shortcomings, which makes his smirking hubris in accepting the crown all the more threatening. As leaders of the conspiracy, Nick Howard-Brown's Cassius is all political scheming, but lacking in moral courage when his low cunning is challenged. David Hywel Baynes is a noble, but arrogant, Brutus, admired by all, but oh so self-righteous in his love of Rome and his blindness to his well-founded doubt. Lurking on the fringes, slyly seducing Caesar to ignore his wife's premonitions of murder and fatally attend the Senate on the Ides of March, is Daniel Hanna's Casca - a Tim Roth-like performance that marks an actor to watch.

Director Daniel Winder makes splendid use of the spaces: the church becomes the Senate; its steps the venue for the funeral orations; its gardens, Caesar's palace and Brutus' battlefield tent. Undoubtedly adding to the atmosphere, the promenade approach is demanding of actors and audience, so be warned - dress for wet weather if rain is forecast!

With the Arab Spring morphing into an Arab decade, Shakespeare's insight into the dangers of the growth of individual power within a limited democracy and the difficulties of nation-building in the frenzy of civil war is as relevant as ever. 400 years on from its writing, and 2000 years since the events it portrays, the questions posed by the play have as few answers today as ever.

Iris Theatre's Julius Caesar continues at St Paul's Church until 26 July.

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