Last month, as I started my deeper dive into Julius Caesar, I noted that I was noticing more short, non-antilabe, poetic lines than I remember seeing in the plays earlier in the project.
Now, I haven’t compared Caesar to those earlier plays (haven’t had the time, man!)… but looking at all these short lines–over a hundred by my count–I keep thinking these are clues to the director and actors.
But clues to do what exactly?
If you want to accelerate the momentum, you could cut all those pauses and just push the pace, relentlessly heading toward the inevitable.
That could work.
Of course, Julius Caesar is a relatively short play, shorter than the average tragedy and the average play; only Titus Andronicus and Macbeth are shorter. So, in this tale of treachery of both the political and interpersonal realms, you could also play those short lines and pauses for all they’re worth. Turn the damn thing into some kind of unholy bastard child of Stoppard and Mamet.
That might work.
Only one way to find out.
Do it.