‘Caesar’s’ Feminine Side Evoked but Not Explored

The Double Helix Theatre Company at the Open Fist Theatre attempts to give a modern twist to Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” by casting Anna C. Miller in the title role, but little is actually done with the gender issues of the mostly male conspirators perhaps chaffing under the authority of a woman.

On opening night, some actors stumbled on their lines. The music design by John Goetchius starts and stops abruptly. The driving beat of some selections doesn’t carry over to the pacing of Stephen Rockwell’s direction.

Julius Caesar (Miller) is dressed in no-nonsense pants and long vests. Her wife, Calphurnia (Kate McKiernan), is the fem of this lesbian couple. But the questions and complexity of gender roles aren’t fully explored, resulting in a muddle.

What to think when Portia (Colleen Cavanaugh Anthony) berates her weakness as a woman? Or when a conspirator, Decius Brutus (Ellen Mills), wears a short, clingy black dress and high heels (with straps that crisscross up to her knees), you want to query the fashion police if this is the correct attire for an assassination. Katrin Kern’s costume design also makes Octavius (McKiernan) quite literally a schoolgirl, taking the pejorative sting out of Cassius’ words.

Christopher Gottschalk is an eloquent Brutus and Darin Anthony makes an earnest Cassius. But not all the actors are up to the Bard’s language.

The time for women to take positions of authority may have come, but this interpretation once seen, fails to conquer.

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* “Julius Caesar,” Open Fist Theatre, 1625 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Aug. 4. $16. (323) 243-4488. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes.