This weekend, you can find The Queen's Men's all-female production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" at the Trinity Theatre in the Mission Valley shopping center.
In Shakespeare's day, all roles — regardless of gender — were played by men. Times have changed.
"Our 'Julius Caesar' is performed on a high school girls' soccer team, so we just put our set in today, and we have the soccer field," said Audrey Sweet, co-director of the play.
"This is in the modern day, but it's using Shakespeare's text, which is very, very fun, and we've made sure that everyone understands it," added fellow co-director Charlotte B. Larson.
"We both really love Shakespeare," Sweet explained. "But as young women, there are so many of his plays and so many of his parts that I absolutely adore, but I can't perform in just because I am a woman. So the idea of The Queen's Men is that we are doing Shakespeare's plays, but set with young women as all of the characters."
The company is new and is staging this production at Trinity Theatre, located in the Mission Valley shopping center near Target.
"This was something that Audrey and I talked about at the end of our senior year," Larson said. "We wanted to provide a space for women and nonbinary people to do classical work that they wouldn't necessarily be able to do. And so much of Shakespeare's canon is men, but that doesn't mean it's just for men."
Sean Boyd, artistic director of Trinity Theatre Company wrote in the press notes: "I am incredibly impressed by the work and mission of The Queen's Men and we are excited they will be sharing their work with the community at Trinity Theatre. Charlotte B. Larson and Audrey Sweet have reimagined 'Julius Caesar' in a bold production that makes Shakespeare wonderfully accessible. That accessibility speaks to the mission of Trinity Theatre Company — and we look forward to having The Queen’s Men present 'Julius Caesar.'"
Larson grew up playing soccer and saw how competitive the college admissions process was for her sister in softball.
"It's pretty cutthroat, and girls get mean," Larson said. "And I thought that was such an interesting concept. There's something about pitting women against one another that I think is a topic to be explored."
So it's fueled by a little "Mean Girls" and "Heathers" vibe — but in iambic pentameter.
"To be completely frank, the original characters in the original text act like teenage girls," Larson noted. "They are so, so petty. It's very, very based in jealousy. And I think that that rings very true in a high school setting."
Last week, the stage was freshly laid with astroturf, and the cast assembled the soccer goal as the central set piece. It's a very contemporary setting, but the themes are timeless.
"The play is so interesting in how it explores friendship and jealousy and betrayal," Sweet said. "And we thought that was really interesting to bring to the modern day. And not to read too much into the politics of it all, but it is about the abuse of power. And it was really fun because we've made it all women, so we've changed all the pronouns."
So it's no longer about Roman senators — but it still resonates for audiences today.
"They don't speak as if they're Roman senators reciting a speech," Sweet said. "They talk like teenage girls, and it makes it a lot easier to understand."
"I think seeing it through a different lens will definitely speak to a lot of people," Larson added.
And it was not just the language of the play that had to be adapted and modernized.
"Stage combat has been a passion of mine for a really long time," Sweet said. "But this piece was a challenge because normally this would be done with traditional weapons, but bringing it into the modern day, it's almost entirely unarmed — just girl-on-girl. So it was a process to choreograph."
Sweet and Larson, both 19, are grateful to have Trinity Theatre as both a venue, and a place of support and mentoring.
"Some people literally walk in and are like, 'What is this?'" Larson said. "Because it is a shopping mall, and so there's tons of variety here. This is just one of the things that it offers."
If you are shopping for a fresh take on the Bard, check out The Queen’s Men’s "Julius Caesar" Friday through Sunday at Trinity Theatre in Mission Valley.
