Modern-world setting intensifies `Julius Caesar'.

Byline: Review by FRED CRAFTS The Register-Guard

A WORLD AT WAR. Cold-blooded assassins slaughtering their leader. Avengers methodically tracking down the killers. It's all there in Laird Williamson's intense production of William Shakespeare's potboiler, "Julius Caesar."

An aggressive director who grabs the audience by the throat at the outset and never lets go, Williamson has transported Shakespeare's tragedy from Roman times to a modern setting - a bold move that drives the tale of deceit and treachery with uncommon urgency.

In Williamson's vision, Rome is on military alert in a futuristic world where the combatants look like World War II soldiers who've been issued some Mad Max gear. Their territory is encumbered by gigantic, silver-colored blocks of compressed scrap metal, in which still can be seen pieces of old armor, heroic statuary and other vestiges of the past.

These are tough times in Rome.

The leader, the powerful and charismatic Julius Caesar, is a smooth operator who bears an uncomfortable resemblance to a Mafia don. A building-sized poster of him surveys the action from behind. He is enjoying his highest popularity ratings ever. The public adores him. He seemingly can do no wrong.

However, not everyone is happy. Certain key senators fear he has gotten too big for his britches. The distinguished Marcus Brutus and Caius Cassius get others so worked up that they assassinate him, not so much for personal gain - Brutus says his reason for killing Caesar was "not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more" - but in a misguided belief that their countrymen will view it as the right thing to have done.

To their surprise, the deadly deed does not generate the desired acclaim, as the silver- tongued Mark Antony whips Caesar's grieving supporters into a frenzy with a fiery speech. Ultimately, the two forces clash on the battlefield, and the conspirators lose everything, including their lives.

Set designer Ralph Funicello, costume designer Andrew Yelusich and lighting designer James Vermeulen have combined with composer Larry Delinger and sound designer Dennis Kambury to fashion a noisy, blinding and exhilarating visual and aural ambiance.

Although the special effects are arresting in their own right, they are, appropriately, merely the canvas for Williamson's sharp, clear and spirited storytelling. In leaving Shakespeare's narrative intact - at well longer than three hours, hardly anything has been omitted - Williamson has given the production hard-edged relevancy.

Leading the charge as Brutus is Derrick Lee Weeden, a tall, powerfully built man who uses his intimidating physical presence as well as his keen intellect to persuade his co-conspirators of the rightness of their actions.

By contrast, his partner in crime is spindly Mark Murphey (Cassius), a nervous man who grows increasingly unsure about their dastardly actions.

In the other camp, Dan Donohue is coolly assured as the reluctant Mark Antony, a man thrust into the limelight upon the death of his friend, Julius Caesar. Donohue's delivery of the famous eulogy (`Friends, Romans, countrymen ...') is an oratorical masterpiece.

The small but central role of Julius Caesar is convincingly played by William Langan.

CAPTION(S):

The Soothsayer (Christine Williams) watches Mark Antony mourn Caesar.