a Tragic Opera in 2 Acts
When Julius Caesar takes the crown, a small band of citizens attacks him, prepared to pay any price to defend democracy. Listeners are swept along on a powerful descent into revolution and violence, confronting them with the question, “What if this were to happen to us?”
Act One
The noblewoman Cassia is convinced that Rome’s democracy is at risk. She sees a cult of personality growing up around Julius Caesar, and she is determined to stop him. One afternoon she sees Brutus, a highly respected Senator. She approaches him, to tries and win him to her cause. While she awakens Brutus’ fear and his sense of injustice, the Mob inside the Senate repeatedly erupts in a frenzy of adoration for Caesar. In a rage, Cassia exposes her true feelings to Brutus. She asks him to join her in her quest, but Brutus is hesitant.
That night, after witnessing violence done in Caesar’s name, Brutus decides that it is his moral duty to join Cassia. Together they will kill Caesar and defend Rome. Portia, Brutus’ wife, arrives. She senses that he is troubled and longs to help him. She is clearly his most important ally and best friend. But in the first of what will be a long line of errors, Brutus refuses to confide in Portia. Instead, he leaves on his own to find Cassia.
On the other side of the city, Cassia has gathered a large and angry Mob. They are protesting Caesar’s tyranny. Soldiers violently take prisoners, and upon gaining the upper hand, they depart. To comfort her remaining followers and give them hope, Cassia organizes a vigil. As the ceremony ends, Brutus arrives. Cassia suggests taking an oath, forging further alliances and killing Mark Antony. Brutus disagrees with Cassia on all points, and against her better judgement, Cassia follows along. Together with a handful of true believers, Cassia and Brutus plot the murder of Caesar.
The next morning, Caesar and his wife Calpurnia are in their garden. Calpurnia has had a vivid nightmare, predicting Caesar’s murder. She is hard at work creating a dark and horrifying array of statues, to illustrate this nightmare for her husband. But when Cassia and Brutus arrive, they laugh off Calpurnia’s worries. They offer an alternative interpretation of her dream that flatters and entices Caesar. Calpurnia watches helplessly as they lead Caesar away to die.
Act Two
Later that morning, Caesar reaches for the crown on the steps of the Senate. Brutus, Cassia and their followers brutally murder him and the assembled crowd flees in horror. When Mark Antony appears and confronts the assassins, Brutus and Cassia try to win him over to their cause. Antony deflects their advances by asking if he may speak at Caesar’s funeral. Cassia senses danger and urges Brutus to says no. Once again, however, Brutus insists on having his way, and gives Antony permission to speak. When he addresses the crowd, Antony skillfully turns them against Cassia and Brutus. Keeping his word to avenge Caesar, Antony unleashes a war of retribution on the world.
Weeks later, on a deserted battlefield, Brutus dreams of his dead wife Portia. She tells him that Antony has destroyed Rome, and that anarchy reigns. Brutus awakens, but the voice calling him is that of Cassia. Brutus confronts Cassia with a series of accusations, hiding behind a pose of virtue to mask his own failures. They bicker. Brutus hurls blame and Cassia defends herself. She tells Brutus that Antony is advancing on their position. Brutus demands bloody revenge through a frontal assault. Against her best instincts, Cassia once again follows Brutus’ lead. The two unite in their resolve to wage a fierce attack on Antony’s troops. Caesar’s ghost appears, with legions of War Dead massed behind him. The War Dead surround Cassia and Brutus and ready them for battle. As Cassia and Brutus disappear into the violence of war, the dead wail that humanity has brought about its own destruction.
Ashes fall on the ruins of Rome. The capitol’s former glory is now unimaginable. While survivors scavenge for food, Mark Antony arrives with his aides to unceremoniously decorate the corpses of Cassia and Brutus. They then hurry away to more important business, while the scavengers continue to forage and clear the rubble. Children play among the corpses below what was once a mighty Rome.