Classics Experts Take Center Stage with Shakespeare Company

A cataclysmic love affair. Strong female characters. An exhilarating ascent to power and fame halted by an abrupt, violent finale. No, we’re not talking about "House of Cards." These elements make up many of William Shakespeare’s tragedies and histories -- plays we still watch hundreds of years after they were written. 

And the secret’s been out for a while that the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is this city’s go-to playhouse if you want to experience some spellbinding Elizabethan drama. 

But even though Shakespeare’s plays are masterpieces, they’re not timeless. Sometimes, even the biggest fans of the bard get a little confused when watching Shakespeare’s Roman tragedies. Wouldn’t it be great if experts could give pre-show talks that dive into each play’s riveting background, so that audiences could fully immerse themselves into the performance? 

That’s where the University of Cincinnati McMicken College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Classics comes to the rescue. The Shakespeare Company has recently partnered with UC classics professors, who will elaborate on the ancient history and cultural importance behind Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. 

The introductions create an opportunity to learn about what is arguably history’s most famous murder as well as its most compelling, complex relationship. Antony and Cleopatra charts Roman general Mark Antony and Egyptian queen Cleopatra’s romance throughout wartime, and Julius Caesar portrays the Roman statesman’s murder and the psychological implications that arose from it. 

The talks will touch on topics ranging from England’s fascination with empires to Shakespeare’s writing process. They will be held on the following dates at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, free for anyone who has purchased tickets: 

April 30, 7 p.m. Duncan MacRae, assistant professor of classics, will introduce Julius Caesar and look at the history of ancient Rome’s political assassinations. MacRae will also focus on the way Roman history was imagined during Shakespeare’s time versus how it’s perceived today. “I hope the audience takes away a keener appreciation of some of the details of the play, including the most famous line — ‘Et tu, Brute?’ — and the portrayal of the character of Brutus,” MacRae said. 

May 21, 7 p.m. Hamish Cameron, assistant professor of classics, will introduce Antony and Cleopatra by discussing the famous love affair and the politics behind it. Cameron will also explore how the play reflects and adapts Greco-Roman ideas of empire and geographical space to an early modern English context.

May 28, 7 p.m. Lauren Ginsberg, assistant professor of classics, will introduce Antony and Cleopatra and discuss the famous love affair and the politics behind it. “My talk will focus particularly on why Cleopatra — as a powerful queen in her own right — mattered to English audiences at that time, and the ways in which the play’s representation of female sovereign power speaks both to the past it represents and the present that its audience members were living,” Ginsberg said. 

MacRae said that the introductions wish to illuminate the ways in which the humanities can enrich the arts, and vice-versa. 

Learn more about the University of Cincinnati’s renowned Department of Classics by visiting their webpage. Get tickets to Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra here.