''The Ides of March'' is a 1961 Australian television play. Director William Sterling said it was a more impressionistic production than the usual television drama.
Premise
A fantastia on certain events and persons in the last days of the Roman Republic.
Cast
*
Brian James as
Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
*Lynn Flanagan as Claudia
*
Bruce Barry as
Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...
*
Edward Brayshaw
Edward John Brayshaw (18 October 1933 – 28 December 1990) was an Australian actor who worked in Australia and England.
Australian career
He was a Melbourne-based actor in the 1950s and 1960s and often appeared on television and stage. He lef ...
as Catullus
*
Don Crosby
George Wallace Donald Crosby, Order of Australia, OAM (29 October 1924 – 3 December 1985) was an Australians, Australian actor of radio, stage, television and film, radio producer, stage manager, airman and trade unionist.
Early life
The fift ...
as Cassius
*Keith Dare as Casca
*
Edward Howell as Decius
*
Fay Kelton
Fay Kelton (Born in Tasmania between 1940–41), is an Australian former actress radio, stage and television, she relocated to Melbourne in her teens. She was a regular performer on the ABC radio serial '' Blue Hills'' (1949-1976), and also ap ...
as Pompeia
*Kevin McBeath as
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
*David Mitchell as Clodius
*Dennis Mitchell as
Marc Antony
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autoc ...
*
Carole Potter
Carole Potter was an Australian actor best known for her work in the early days of Australian television. She was born in England and moved to Australia in 1957. Her TV debut was made when she was 15 in ''The Governess''. She married director Wil ...
as
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
Production
William Sterling said:
There is no beginning, middle or end in the recognised manner. Rather the treatment will be impressionistic and sstylised with much of the action mimed by the characters to prerecorded speech. The form of the novel is followed closely and the TV screen can 'picture' the thoughts of the principal characters as well as illustrating the events that have provoked these thoughts. There will be dialogue scenes as well but the play concentrates on centralising the character of Caesar against a vast background canvas that recreates the turbulent of the first century of Rome.
More than 500 yards of material were used to make 24 costumes, five for Cleopatra.
Reception
The TV critic from the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' thought "nothing could have seemed less promising" than an adaptation of the novel, which did not seem suited to television, but "the results were surprisingly successful" praising the writing and direction.
References
External links
''The Ides of March''at
IMDb
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
Australian television films
Films directed by William Sterling (director)
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