Imperium (play cycle)


Imperium: The Cicero Plays is a stage adaptation of the Cicero trilogy of novels by Robert Harris. It was premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 16 November 2017 to 10 February 2018, directed by Gregory Doran and with Richard McCabe as Cicero. It played at the Gielgud Theatre in London from 14 June to 8 September 2018.

Plot summary

The cycle consists of six plays, each roughly one hour long, performed in two groups of three, all narrated by Cicero's slave and later freedman Tiro.

Part I - Conspirator

The first group consists of the plays Cicero, Catiline and Clodius. It includes a brief flashback to Cicero's prosecution of Verres in 70 BC but mainly runs from Cicero's election campaign for consul in 64 BC until his exile in 58 BC, adapting material from the end of Imperium, the whole of Lustrum and the start of Dictator.

Part II - Dictator

The second group adapts the remainder of Dictator into three plays entitled Caesar, Mark Anthony and Octavian. The first opens as Cicero returns to Italy in the wake of Caesar's victory at Pharsalus in 48 BC, followed by a summing-up of the recent Civil War and Caesar's assumption of dictatorial powers. The rest of the three plays then follows Cicero's reaction to the Ides of March and his failed attempts to save the Roman Republic by playing Mark Anthony and Octavian off against each other, culminating in Cicero's execution in 43 BC. The final play ends with an epilogue by Tiro, covering the later fates of Brutus, Cassius, Octavian and Mark Anthony and imagining Cicero's afterlife in words from his own Dream of Scipio.

Cast (premier production)

  • Nicholas Boulton - Celer, Cicero's patrician ally / Cassius, conspirator against Caesar
  • Guy Burgess - Verres / Sura, Catiline's ally / [Marcus Aemilius Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Lepidus (triumvir)|Lepidus], leader of Caesar's veterans
  • Daniel Burke - Sositheus, Cicero's slave / Marcus, Cicero's son
  • Jade Croot - Tullia, Cicero's daughter
  • Peter de Jersey - Julius Caesar
  • Joe Dixon - Catiline / Mark Antony
  • John Dougall - [Gaius Gaius Rabirius (senator)|Rabirius (senator)|Rabirius], aged senator / Metellus Pius, Chief Pontiff / Lucullus, patrician / Brutus, one of Caesar's murderers
  • Michael Grady-Hall - Cato / Hirtius, consul in 43 BC
  • Paul Kemp - Quintus, Cicero's younger brother
  • Joseph Kloska - Tiro, Cicero's slave and secretary
  • Patrick Knowles - [Gaius Cornelius Gaius Cornelius Cethegus (conspirator)|Cethegus (conspirator)|Cethegus], one of Catiline's allies / [Publius Cornelius Publius Cornelius Dolabella (consul 44 BC)|Dolabella (consul 44 BC)|Dolabella], Tullia's unfaithful husband
  • Richard McCabe - Cicero
  • Hywel Morgan - Hybrida, Cicero's fellow consul for 63 BC / Popillius, Cicero's murderer
  • Lily Nichol - Camilla / Calpurnia, Caesar's wife
  • David Nicolle - Crassus / [Gaius Vibius Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus|Pansa Caetronianus|Pansa], consul in 43 BC
  • Pierro Niel-Mee - Clodius, Cicero's pupil and later enemy / Agrippa, Octavian's second-in-command
  • Siobhan Redmond - Terentia, Cicero's wife / Servilia, Brutus's mother
  • Patrick Romer - [Publius Servilius Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (consul 48 BC)|Vatia Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (consul 79 BC)|Isauricus (consul 79 BC)|Isauricus] / [Lucius Calpurnius Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (consul 58 BC)|Piso Caesoninus (consul 58 BC)|Piso], Caesar's father-in-law
  • Jay Saighal - Numitorius, witness against Verres / Caeparius, one of Catiline's allies / Decimus, conspirator against Caesar
  • Christopher Saul - Pompey / [Lucius Licinius Lucius Licinius Murena (consul 62 BC)|Murena (consul 62 BC)|Murena], consul in 62 BC / Vatia, consul in 48 BC and ally of Octavian
  • Eloise Secker - Clodia, Clodius' sister / Fulvia, Mark Antony's wife
  • Simon Thorp - [Quintus Lutatius Quintus Lutatius Catulus Capitolinus|Catulus Capitolinus|Catulus] / Calenus, ally of Mark Antony

Cast (Gielgud production)

  • Nicholas Armfield - Clodius / Agrippa
  • Nicholas Boulton - Celer / Cassius
  • Tom Brownlee - Lictor / Gladiator 1
  • Guy Burgess - Verres / Sura / Lepidus
  • Daniel Burke - Sositheus / Marcus
  • Jade Croot - Tullia
  • Peter de Jersey - Julius Caesar
  • Joe Dixon - Catiline / Mark Antony
  • John Dougall - Rabirius / Metellus Pius / Lucullus / Brutus
  • Michael Grady-Hall - Cato / Hirtius
  • Oliver Johnstone - Rufus / Octavian
  • Paul Kemp - Quintus
  • Joseph Kloska - Tiro
  • Patrick Knowles - Cethegus / Dolabella
  • Andrew Langton - Numitorius / Caeparius / Decimus
  • Richard McCabe - Cicero
  • Hywel Morgan - Hybrida / Popillius
  • David Nicolle - Crassus / Pansa
  • Siobhan Redmond - Terentia / Servilia
  • Patrick Romer - Isauricus / Piso
  • Christopher Saul - Pompey / Murena / Vatia
  • Eloise Secker - Clodia / Fulvia
  • Simon Thorp - Catulus / Calenus
  • Scott Westwood - Young Officer / Gladiator 2
  • Alisha Williams - Camilla / Young Mark Antony / Calpurnia