CALIGULA . A REVIEW.   CHAPTER ARTS APRIL 12TH                              

In the 1st century AD Emperor Gaius Caligula struck fear into the hearts of his Roman subjects. His cruelty, extravagances and sexual perversity were legend as he descended into insanity and he was eventually assassinated:

 Fast forward 2000 years and there have been no shortages of cruel tyrants and mad dictators in the intervening centuries. The story of Caligula is as relevant today as it was yesterday and will no doubt be so tomorrow.       

Albert Camus wrote Caligula in in 1939 and David Grieg later adapted it to give it a more contemporary feel and with Mathilde Lopez’ direction the AUGUST 012  production keeps it fresh and topical.

Caligula is a thought provoking play, well acted, fast moving , intriguing and well directed. The inclusion of the senior citizens of Cardiff intelligently playing the senate adds an interesting dimension  of ordinary people caught up in  the vicissitudes of of an unstable man with the power to destroy everything that is right minded, true and good in life.

There is no audience as such .Just a group of bystanders herded around to bear witness to the unfolding of Caligula’s increasing cruelty.

                   “ I want to make suffering funny”.

 We watch in horror as he makes impossible demands on his subjects. It’s the moon or nothing! And we hold our breathe as we follow his inevitable descent into the oblivion he desperately craves.

It is an effective form of public participation. It is the crowd gathering round the scene of a dreadful incident while behind them helicopters fly with ‘breaking news’ and we know the only outcome must be tragic.

Caligula’s character is not easily defined.In the early 20th century Sigmund Freud would have loved to psychoanalyse him and his alter egos -the superbly played Scipio and Cherea.

In the 21st century we are asked to condemn a little less and understand a little more. For after all, Caligula had a terrible childhood.Most of his family,including his father, were murdered. There was no counselling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in those days!

Caligula in all his agonies and ecstasies  is played out faultlessly and every emotion is wrung from the heart.

 For the onlooker , trying to make sense of the imagery is fruitless and one only becomes entangled in the web of mind games. The only thing that is certain is that Caligula must die.

After all the hyperbolic agonising and histrionics, death, in the end ,appears calmly and with stealth.The long suffering senate have had enough as they glide forward rattling his death in their tea cups . It is a fitting end executed by the disinherited old age pensioners from Ely and beyond.

This version of Caligula is a ‘must see’. It is ‘1984’  ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and  ‘Blackadder’  all rolled into one.

Catch it if you can at the Chapter Arts Centre.

                         Patricia Roper