SCHAAN – Caesar rules Rome because he defeated Pompey after years of civil war. But soon there are rumors of a conspiracy against him. Are they true? What is the danger to Caesar? How will the ruler react? Some of the 4th, 5th and 7th grades of the LG were allowed to watch the play “The tragedy of the life and death of Julius Caesar” in the TAK. In addition to the performance of the play, the students had the opportunity to look behind the scenes of the theater.
This year’s TAK season motto best fits the political figure of Caesar: “I am clever, I am.” Transferred to ancient Rome: If Caesar said that something had to be done, it happened. For many of his contemporaries, Caesar’s self-centeredness and arrogance were seen as a threat to the political order. And don’t the self-centered and power-hungry character traits show us parallels to today’s world? What can be better understood today with the help of William Shakespeare’s interpretation of Caesar?
Before he gained so much power, Caesar was also a gifted strategist: he was offered the imperial crown three times by Mark Antony and three times he offered it. Then the people celebrated him even more. After Caesar came to power, he made enemies. Cassius, a powerful general, was one who, in the face of Caesar’s power, expressed concern for his freedom and the political order of Rome. For this reason he planned a conspiracy against Caesar and even tried to get Brutus, Caesar’s foster son, to his side. Brutus had to choose between friendship with Caesar and his political ideals. He chose the Cassius side. Caesar received some warnings about a conspiracy, but he ignored them. One of these warnings came, it is said in the play edited by Helmut Krausser, from his wife, who had a dream that he would die. This dream came true on the stage: During the entire play, the stage floor was covered with red sand, possibly as a sign that Caesar’s life was increasingly running like sand through his own fingers. In the scene in which Julius Caesar is killed, he is pelted with red sand by the three conspirators, this patters on Caesar’s body and at the same time acts like blood pouring out.
But was it a nun? After the successful murder of Caesar, the conspirators asked themselves completely new, pressing questions: What steps should the conspirators take now? Who ruled Rome as a nun and what form of government should rule now? Those who attend the play like some of the LG classes will be rewarded with answers and new questions.