by GBShaw
Translation: Petru Comarnescu

Artistic direction: N.Al.Toscani (National Theatre "ILCaragiale" Bucharest)
Scenography: Tatiana Manolescu Uleu
Musical illustration: engineer Lucian Ionescu (Romanian Radio and Television Bucharest)
Choreography:  Eve Ombodi
Premiere date: June 7, 1969

The historical drama "Caesar and Cleopatra" has as its starting point the events in Egypt in 47 BC, the civil war for the throne between the two brothers - Cleopatra and Ptolemy and the interference of the Roman emperor in its development. Shaw's play, however, demystifies history, emphasizing the discrepancy that exists between the legend surrounding the historical figures and the reality behind it. Cleopatra, a sixteen-year-old girl, is captured both in the guise of a teenager overflowing with eroticism and as a sovereign quickly learning the secrets of diplomacy, hiding behind her first mask. Caesar seems to give up the heroic posture, appearing tired of his historical role, cynical, but showing an inventiveness that ensures his power. In addition, Shaw demonstrates that it was not love that played the main role in the story of the two ancient rulers, but politics, showing the connections between the Roman and Egyptian conquerors. The play abounds in anachronisms and time jumps, even alluding to the policy of conquest pursued by England in the author's contemporary period. He suggests (directly in the prologue spoken by the god Ra) that the two millennia of civilization and technological evolution have not improved the way of life of humans and have not changed them significantly.

Distribution:

The God Ra:  Ben Dumitrescu
Caesar:  Mircea Olariu
Cleopatra:  Elizabeth Jar
Girl:  Alla Tautu
Rufio:  Octavian Uleu
Ptolemy:  Ana Popa
Pothinosus:  Jean Sandulescu 
Achilles:  Marcel Segărceanu
Britannus:   Ion Tomorrow
Lucius Septimius:   Carol Lavott
The wounded soldier:  Ben Dumitrescu
Roman Sentinel:  Grig Schiţcu
Apollodorus the Sicilian:  Nicolae Barosan
The Centurion:  Ion Abrudan
Charmian:  Doina Ioja
Iras:  Anca Miere Chirilă