Celebrating 425 years of Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Julius Caesar were all written around 1600, and have been in almost constant performance ever since. This blog looks at their history of performance in Chicago.

Julius Caesar, while having a reputation for being devilishly difficult to produce well, was quite popular among both performers and audiences during the Gilded Age. Edwin Booth, of the famous family of actors (and one presidential assassin), played Brutus in Chicago in the 1880s as did another famous actor of the time, Lawrence Barrett. The Chicago Opera House was a favorite destination for these productions. In 1938, the touring production of Orson Welles' conception of Julius Caesar played at the Erlanger Theater. All of the programs for these productions can be found in our Historical Programs Collection. Because of its intimidating reputation, modern companies have been more reticent about producing this great play. Though, Black Ensemble Theater took the plunge in 1993 with acclaimed director Harry J. Lennix envisioning parallels to struggles within the Nation of Islam. 

As You Like It is frequently considered one of the best and most intellectual of Shakespeare's plays, and Rosalind is considered quite the vehicle for a young, ambitious actress. Esteemed performer Julia Marlowe played Chicago twice in the role in the 1880s, both at the Chicago Opera House. While those programs are in the Historical Theater Program Collection, the Clara Hemmings Furry Theater Scrapbooks Collection also have evidence of a production in the early part of the last century. The Goodman did its first production of As You Like It in 1927, and it was well-received. So far, that theater has done it twice more, once in the early 1960s as a Studio production and again in 1997 with the late, great Michael Maggio at the helm. 

Twelfth Night is just good, goofy fun and an audience favorite. The Goodman has done it several times, set in several locations, and the Second Company of Steppenwolf (their young actors ensemble) produced Twelfth Night as well. Sarajane Avidon was in an early Chicago Shakespeare Theater production as Maria. Reaching back into the past, Julia Marlowe played Viola in repertory with As You Like It, mentioned above. The role of Viola was also played by the acclaimed 19th century actor Ellen Terry and the equally famous Henry Irving portrayed the archetypal blowhard Malvolio in the same production (bonus: Bram Stoker, of Dracula fame, was the head of the acting company).  The E.B. Gould Programs Collection and the Alma M. Yondorf Theatre Scrapbooks Collection also document touring productions that stopped in Chicago. 

Summer is coming, and with it various outdoor productions of Shakespeare. Go catch some Bard, then make an appointment to see our collections.