21:30, Tue 11th – Sat 15th November 2014 at Pembroke New Cellars
Michaelmas Week 5

Pembroke Freshers' Play 2014

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”

The assassination of Julius Caesar has brought chaos to the Roman Empire. Persuaded by scheming politicians and his brother-in-law Cassius, Brutus has helped murder Caesar for the good of Rome, for freedom. But freedom does not come. Brutus and Cassius are called to arms: Mark Antony and Octavius are out to avenge Caesar’s death, and civil war rages across the land. Guilt-haunted, Brutus, “the noblest Roman of them all”, marches on the enemy.

Human error and ambition clash in Shakespeare’s visceral play. With only one week’s rehearsal, this production captures the raw, fiery, and impulsive nature of the text. Succinctly adapted and performed by Pembroke freshers, the staging brings youth and vigor to Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of patriotism, power, and betrayal in Ancient Rome.