This document provides details for directing a production of Julius Caesar, including responsibilities of the director, choosing a script, casting, themes, lighting, costumes, and set design. The director must coordinate all creative elements and choose a script to tweak. Actors will be cast based on voice, looks, experience and fit. For this production, the themes of blood, murder and betrayal will be central. Lighting will attract attention and highlight action using various instruments. Costumes will be authentic to 44 BC Rome, including tunics, togas, peplos and stolas. Sets will realistically portray locations like the Senate and battlefield. Bloodstained hands will be the ruling metaphor.

1. Julius Caesar
By Juan Moreira, Phuong Le, Christiana Chamon and Doroteo Garcia

2. Director Responsibilities
• Responsible for coordinating
oScene
oCostumes
oLightning
oSound design
oGetting everyone on the
same page
oChoosing a script

3. Choosing a Script
• The director must be
attractive to the script first
• Then they will tweak the
script to their liking
• Then the director will
choose the spine of the play
• For our play we decided to
stick to the original
manuscript.

4. Casting
• Casting of Characters will
be chosen based on
oVoice
oLooks
oExperience
oIf they fit the Part

5. Casting
• Julius Caesar Brutus Antony Cassius Cicero
• Octavius Casca Calpurnia Portia Flavius

6. Theme
• The theme of the play sets the
mood and what the director
wants the audience to get from
the play
• For our production we want
blood, murder and betrayal to be
the central part of the play

7. Style (Lights)
• We want lighting that will attract
audience’s attention. To
highlight the play set and the
action on stage
• Lights that will be used are
• Floodlights
• Beam
• Color lights

8. Style (Costumes)
Costume Design will be
authentic to the period of
44B.C Rome.
Tunica
Toga
Peplos
Stola

9. Directional Concept
• Finally the character will add his
own concepts to make the play
experience unique.
• For our play we want to the
audience to feel like they are
watching the events live
• So we will add as much realism
to the play’s costume, set
design, lighting, sound and
character casting.

10. Costumes

11. Men
Tunica
• Short woolen undergarment with short sleeves [1]
• Originally worn by the working class plebeians,
freedmen, and slaves, but could be worn by
anyone [1]
Toga
• Large cumbersome robe-like garment of white
wool [1]
• Only actual citizens were allowed to wear a toga
[1]
Ancient Roman worker
dressed in a tunica [2]
Roman citizen dressed
in a toga [3]

12. • Toga virilis: plain, unadorned toga made in off-white color—worn by any adult male [1]
• Toga praetexta: off-white toga with a broad purple border—reserved for senators and
curule magistrates such as consuls [1]
• Toga pulla: dark toga worn strictly in times of mourning [1]
• Toga candida: artificially whitened toga worn by candidates for political office—white
signifies purity for the election, and it was supposed to help the candidates stand out from
the crowd [1]
• Toga picta: special all-purple toga embroidered with gold thread—worn by a Roman general
during a triumphal parade [1]
• Julius Caesar later adopted it as part of his regular dress, and the emperors followed suit by
using this type during many state [1]
Types of togas
Roman general wearing a toga picta [4]

13. Women
Peplos
• Similar to the Greek Chiton [1]
• Made from two rectangular pieces of cloth partially sewn
together on both sides with the open sections at the top
folded down in the front and back [1]
• Pulled over the head and fastened with two
large pins, forming a sleeveless dress [1]
• A belt was then tied over or under the
folds [1]
Stola
• Married women were required to wear this loose toga-equivalent
[1]
• Long, sleeveless tunic strapped at the
shoulder, gathered in and girdled at
the waist—the garment extended to
the feet [1]
• The pulla was a sort of shawl to throw
over the whole figure and to be worn
outdoors [1]
Woman wearing a peplos [5] Married woman wearing a stola [6]

14. Shoes
Calceus
• Sandal-like shoe strapped to the
foot [1]
• Mainly for internal wear [1]
Soleae
• Full shoe completely enclosing
the foot [1]
• Much more similar to the
modern shoe [1]
Calceus [7] Soleae [8]

15. Crowns/wreaths
• Adopted by the Romans from the Greeks and the Spartans [9]
• Originally meant to crown winners of Olympic
games [9]
• Circular ornaments worn on the head [9]
• Made from a variety of materials including gold,
silver, leaves, and flowers [9]
• Referred to as a “corona” (crown) or “sertum”
(garland/wreath) [9]
Olive wreath [10]

16. 1953 Julius Caesar movie [11]

17. 1953 Julius Caesar movie [11]

18. 1953 Julius Caesar movie [12]

19. LIGHTS

20. STAGE LIGHTING
• A theatrical tool that:
‒ Attract audience’s attention
‒ Highlight the play set
‒ Advance the actions onstage
‒ Tell location and time of the day

21. • Show the imposing of
Rome and Julius Caesar-the
great man of the
people
• Enhance audience’s
experience in feeling the
foreboding omen,
violently providential
storms, bloody ritualistic
assassination, smoke and
flames, gruesome
apparitions and the
enraged blaze of civil
discord and war.

22. COLORS and LEVELS of LIGHTING
• Primary colors: White, Yellow, Blue, Red, and the mix of these
• Should “mix-match” and enhance the scenery, costumes, and make-up
effects
In accordance with the play plot:
• Beginning of the play: fresh, bright and shine colors (White, Yellow, Blue) to
show the bright future of Caesar and Rome
• When Caesar dies: bold, darker color, fading lights
• When the conspirators all die: extremely dark red, bloody coverage to
indicate the tragedies and push the story to climax. Then light fades until
completely reaches darkness…

23. LIGHTING INSTRUMENTS USE
• Floodlights - to show mood changes throughout the play (least
expensive instruments due to simple construction and few
complicated parts)
• Spotlights - to focus on specific Characters (when a monologue or
dialogue is undertaken)
• Other instruments

24. FLOODLIGHTS
• Strip lights: a row of small floods arranged in
either three or four circuits so that every third or
fourth lamp is on the same circuit.
• Far-cycs and Cyc floods: Four floodlights arranged
in a rectangular array. Each individual bay is a
separate circuit.
• Beam projectors: Floods using a parabolic
reflector, which project a very compact parallel
beam similar to a narrow spotlight.
• PAR Units (PAR-cans): a self-contained Parabolic
Aluminized Reflector and lamp combination with
some rudimentary lensing built into the front to
shape the beam, and placed in a tin-can to contain
some of the spill.

25. SPOTLIGHTS
• PC Spots: A lamp with a spherical reflector in
back and a Plano-Convex lens on the front.
• Fresnel: a modified PC-Spot, has a spherical
reflector like a PC, but uses a Fresnel Lens
instead.
• Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight: uses an ellipsoidal
reflector with a PC lens or lenses in front. Most
efficient spotlight type, can illuminate well from a
distance.

26. OTHER INSTRUMENTS
• box/housing
• light source
• lens or opening
• Reflectors
-> support a better creation, control and monitor of lighting effects

27. ILLUSTRATIONS
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2008
production of “Julius Caesar”
• Spotlight focus on the
main actors/actions in
one particular scene to
guide audience’s
attention toward the
actors/actions
• Other areas of the stage
will have less or no
lights to hinder the less
important part of the
act

28. ILLUSTRATIONS
“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones…”
- Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II
(Lights get darker when tragedy happens)

29. EXAMPLES FROM PAST PRODUCTIONS
Sam Troughton and Hannah Young in Julius Caesar 2013

30. Sets Design

31. Types of Theatres
• Proscenium - Entire audience benefits from the single direction.
• Thrust - Audience surrounds the stage, allowing one side to serve as a background.
• Arena - Audience surrounds the stage on all four sides, allowing for better sightline.

32. Proscenium Theatre
• The proscenium stage would
give the audience the best
experience for our
interpretation of Shakespeare’s
“Julius Caesar”.
• Allows for the set changes that
this play requires.
[2]

34. The Senate
• Large Auditorium-esque
• Built to match the period
• Large columns and Roman
statues
[3]

35. Streets of Rome
• Busy
• People noisily talking
• Lively
• Roman buildings as the
background
[4]

36. The Battlefield
• Open field
• Soldiers
• Soldiers in the distance
[5]

37. [7]

38. Ruling Metaphor
• The ruling metaphor for our production
will be bloody hands
• All the conspirators had blood on their
hands
[6]

39. References for Director
• http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/julius-caesar-
calhern-garson.jpg
• http://www.romanroadsmedia.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/10/Chiton.jpg
• http://www.entretelasvestuario.com/fotos/trajes_en_13_1320671462.jpg
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Toga_(PSF)
.png/200px-Toga_(PSF).png
• http://www.merchantadventurers.com/roman/rt705g.jpg
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Cesar-sa_mort.jpg

40. References for Set Design
[1]http://cassstudio6.wordpress.com/forms-of-stage/types/
[2]http://www.theprosceniumbyrockwell.com/proscenium-theater.html
[3]http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=3554
[4]http://lit.genius.com/1913834/William-shakespeare-julius-caesar-act-5-
scene-1/Then-if-we-lose-this-battle-you-are-contented-to-be-led-in-triumph-thorough-
the-streets-of-rome
[5]http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/194679922?view_mode=
2
[6] http://strictlydisobedient.deviantart.com/art/bloody-hands-371512133
[7] http://classicalwisdom.com/

41. REFERENCE for Lights
http://www.ia470.com/primer/fixture.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_lighting_instrument#PAR_lights
http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/game-plan/
2011/08/12/shakespeare-synetic-and-scandal-oh-my/
https://www.rosco.com/technotes/filters/technote5.html#fig1
http://berkshireonstage.com/2010/05/18/julius-caesar-to-open-shakespeare-
company-season/

42. References for Costumes
• [1] http://www.unrv.com/culture/ancient-roman-clothing.php
• [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunic
• [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toga
• [4] http://www.digitalsculpture.org/caligula/index-colored_picta.html
• [5] http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/things/romanlife/greekdress.htm
• [6] http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/17400/17438/stola_17438.htm
• [7] http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/15900/15917/calceus_15917.htm
• [8] http://www.glogster.com/sadey7/glog-5630/g-6m07qi3cils7nri4bt4pca0
• [9] http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/roman-clothing/roman-crowns-and-wreaths.htm
• [10] http://imgkid.com/olive-wreath-png.shtml
• [11] http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/julius-caesar-review/78780/julius-caesar-1953-lookbackreview
• [12] http://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Summaries/J/Julius%20Caesar%20(1953).htm