Pocket Universe presents a new production of William Shakespeare’s JULIUS CAESAR set in an all-girls high school. Conceived by Alyssa May Gold and directed by Katie Young, six young women play all of the roles in this minimalist production that explores the complexities of bullying and the psychological warfare teenage girls wage on each other. In this new setting, Julius Caesar tells a group of girls’ coming of age story through their first tastes of power, the desire to seize it, and the life and death battle to keep it.

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar seems to be a popular (or should we say unpopular?) play lately. Multiple NYC companies have included it in their summer repertoire, including the Public. But you’re going to be hard-pressed to find a more unique, inventive staging of Shakespeare’s political drama than that taking place at the Access Theater under the direction of Katie Young. Conceived by Alyssa May Gold (who also plays Brutus), this production uproots the classic drama and plants it down in the middle of an all-girls high school – complete with skorts, friendship bracelets, and sidewalk chalk. The action takes place in a large space in the middle of the room, with the audience seated all around. There’s an element of immersive theatre, as actors occasionally interact with the cast or sit beside them (I got high-fived by Mark Antony). And waiting on your seat for you is a friendship bracelet from Julius Caesar herself, in celebration of her defeat of Pompey. To complete the effect, your playbill is disguised as a standard examination Blue Book, which sent me into a brief moment of panic (guess I’ve taken too many college finals). In a play that traditionally includes very few (and very …Read more