Context for anyone not familiar with it - Julius Caesar has been assassinated by a group led by Brutus. They reluctantly allow Antony (a close ally of Caesar) to give a eulogy at the public funeral. According to Plutarch and others, Antony's eulogy set off a riot, leading ultimately to the overthrow of Caesar's assassins. The speech in this video is Shakespeare's imagining of Antony's eulogy in which he initally appears to praise Brutus ("Brutus is an honourable man") but gradually turns the crowd against him.<p>Just brilliant - there's a reason we're still reading shakespeare 400 years later...
WATCHING Shakespeare is what unlocked his work for me. Reading his works is naturally entertaining and insightful, but it is like reading a Hollywood script vs. watching the movie.<p>I kind of feel like this is a RUSH or Grateful Dead conversation too, "oh man, you've never experienced it until you've seen it live" kinda vibe.<p>TY for posting!
See also the William Shatner version in "Free Enterprise" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73tjF0bzAi4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73tjF0bzAi4</a><p>Interesting because the movie portrays it as a ridiculous idea - a musical of "Julius Caesar" in rap form. But funnily enough, a hip-hop musical of the life of Alexander Hamilton was a great success. Maybe every stupid idea is close to being great.
I love this take on it, I've watched it a few times.<p>It goes to show that when you have writing and acting of this quality you don't need any other embellishments.
Twenty or so years ago I had the pleasure of playing Antony in a school-tour version of this play. One of the best experiences of my career was the time ~300 incredibly rambunctious middle-schoolers boo'd and boo'd the actor playing Brutus, until he got them to shut up and listen to his speech (preceding this one), at the end of which they were cheering. Then I got to go out and flip them back around with this one.<p>The principal afterwards apologized to us that the students were "so loud", and we were like "No, that was <i>perfect</i>".<p>That recollection still gives me chills.
This is terrible! He's on a balcony speaking to a crowd, not close-up in a studio. And it's meant to be a fiery oration, not an understated monologue. This could work for Brutus' speech, maybe, but not Antony's.