We Review: A "Chamber" Julius Caesar @ Seattle Shakespeare Co.

That's David Quicksall as Brutus and Hana Lass as Cassius, above, in director Gregg Loughridge's quirky, stripped-down take on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It "doesn't always work," says the P-I, "but the actors stand out." Which sounds like code for "enh."

We thought it was anything but "enh," and not just because an actor told us we looked thinner in front of the whole audience. (The show features a lot of interactions with the audience, who are pressed onto service as vox populi. You're coached by Brandon Simmons, who plays a flip, fey Casca.) The show vibrates with a martial artsy chi, in either undirected, chaotic actions or tightly controlled stillness. If Loughridge's Caesar-as-cult-leader angle, with kung fu costumes and a center stage dojo, isn't enough to wipe Rome's miasmic aura from the evening, it does add a weird layer that rings true. Lupercal as Woodstock? Why not.

Loughridge is serious about the concept: it's not just set and costuming. There's a judo-based argument, a communal tea, and a ceremonial air that gives you a splitscreen view of the play: group power dynamics and historical drama. And this shorter, less-bodied, "chamber" version really highlights the dualities in the play -- it might be called Julius Caesar, but the conflict is both between Caesar and Brutus, and then between them and their second bananas, Antony and Cassius.

For Caesar, Andrew McGinn is an off-beat choice -- he's warmly charismatic, even with the shaved head and creepy little goatee, like he just arrived from some local farm founded on sustainable Buddhist practices. Quicksall's Brutus is more remote, with a commanding voice that falters only when he's being called on the carpet by his wife Portia (Kelly Kitchens, channeling some primary season candidate's ignored wife). As a thuggish Antony, David S. Hogan struts about, head shaved -- before unveiling surprising rhetorical skills. Where Antony's mini-me Caesar lacks a leader's concern for the people, Hana Lass makes Cassius up of Brutus's shadow qualities: thin-skinned, hot-headed, self-serving.

All to prove, according to Shakespeare, that in politics the people with ethics end up falling on their own swords.

Julius Caesar runs Thursday-Sunday through January 27 at the Seattle Shakespeare Company. Tickets are $30-$34, with student/senior discounts.

Photo: Erik Stuhaug