The Performance Index (PI)

provides an authoritative theatrical history of a given play, accounting for groundbreaking productions, significant modifications of the text for acting purposes, and problematic or controversial elements of plot, character, or performance that actors and directors must negotiate in their transmission of the work to the stage.

Here is an account of one of the first performances, by Thomas Platter, a Swiss medical student who was traveling in England in the autumn of 1599.

Here is the vintage performance history by George Odell, Shakespeare from Betterton to Irving (1920), volume 1; volume 2.

Here is the fine website from Cal-Berkeley, Shakespeare’s Staging.

Here is a brief stage history of Julius Caesar by Internet Shakespeare Editions, University of Victoria (BC).

For more related materials, see the last section on our Shakespeariana page, “Performance and Theater History.”

There have been numerous significant productions of Julius Caesar since its initial run at the Globe Theatre in 1599.

Here are three captured on film:

Watch the scene between Brutus and Portia performed by David Bradley and Mary Sefton Darr in

the David Bradley production (1950): it begins at about 1:25.

Watch the scene between Brutus and Portia performed by James Mason and Deborah Kerr in

the Joseph L. Mankiewicz production (1953)

1953.jpg

The same encounter performed by Richard Pasco and Virginia McKenna in

the Herbert Wise production (BBC TV, 1979)

is not currently available.

1979JCBBC.png

Some more recent stage productions:

RSC Production, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2006

RSC Production, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2009

Long Beach (CA) Shakespeare Company production, 2009

Toneelgroep Amsterdam: Romeinse Tragedies: Barbican International Theatre Events, 2009

Screen and Sound Recordings (compiled by Sarah K. Scott)

British Film Institute: National Film and Television Archive

British Library National Sound Archive Audio Recordings

(See also Bryan N. S. Gooch et al. A Shakespeare Music Catalogue. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Film Productions (from International Movie Database)

Blackton, J. Stuart, and William V. Ranous. Julius Caesar (Silent, UK, 1908)

Benson, Frank R. Julius Caesar (Silent, Portugal, 1911)

Moore, Marshall. Brutus and Cassius (Silent, UK, 1918)

Bower, Dallas. Julius Caesar (Television, UK, 1938)

Simpson, Garry. Julius Caesar (Television, USA; 1949)

Bradley, David. Julius Caesar (USA, 1950)

Brett, Leonard. Julius Caesar (Television, UK, 1951)

Mankiewicz, Joseph L. Julius Caesar (USA, 1953) (see above)

Burge, Stuart. Julius Caesar (Television, UK, 1959)

Eyre, Richard. Julius Caesar (Television, USA, 1960)

Grayson, Godfrey. Honourable Murder (UK, 1960; adaptation of Julius Caesar)

Croft, Michael. Julius Caesar (Television, UK, 1964)

Burge, Stuart. Julius Caesar (UK, 1970)

Wise, Herbert. Julius Caesar (UK, 1979) (Television, BBC-TV) (see above)

Langham, Michael. Julius Caesar (Videorecording, USA, 1979)

Rom, Nam. Gedebe (Malaysia, 2002; adaptation of Julius Caesar)