Shakespeare’s Roman tragedies by Luk Perceval

ROM stands for Rome and is a free adaptation/compilation of Shakespeare’s Roman tragedies – including Titus Andronicus, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony & Cleopatra. Plays renowned for their exploration of power and betrayal, set against the backdrop of the fall of the Roman Empire.Premiere on 20 April at Volkstheater Vienna.

But the Roman tragedies do much more than explore the political intrigues and personal struggles of historical figures. Above all, the Roman tragedies offer profound insights into human nature. They reveal the tension between our fear of loss and pain and our striving for freedom. Between the body’s innate desire to live and the mind’s fear of dying. A fear deeply rooted in generations of trauma.

A powerful search for meaning and healing arises from this dichotomy. The lack of meaning and purpose is present in Coriolanus’ death wish. He has lost touch with reality and suffers from depression. He wants to destroy himself and those around him, provoking his own death like Julius Caesar. In the final text of the Roman tragedies, Antony & Cleopatra, Shakespeare makes his protagonists flee to a hidden refuge of love and passion. But like life itself, this experience is fleeting and doomed to be lost in the struggle with the past, with old traumas and fears. Whether this conclusion expresses Shakespeare’s distrust of love, comments on human nature, or provokes the audience to believe otherwise is left unanswered.

What gives these plays a ritual dimension is these unanswered questions. Like any mantra, they are a repetition of an insight into human suffering. Acceptance seems the only form of sense (Perhaps that is what he means by love?). Luk Perceval