Semiotics of Fellini and Ancient Rome in Robert Sturua’s “Julius Caesar”

In 2015 Robert Sturua staged the performance “Julius Caesar – fragments of one act “according to Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”. I would like to note that this play among the dramatic works of Shakespeare is interpretation of 21st from 37 plays in theatrical space of world carried out by director. Robert Sturua staged 2.5 action from Shakespeare’s five-act tragedy. Shakespeare’s general sentences: Life is theatre (even the people are puppet-characters ruled by someone) it is the main starting point of director’s vision, the solution and the concept. Robert Sturua says - Everything begins and ends with theatre. Play exposition built on the principles of like Square or penny gaff theatre also indicates this.
The director and painter used the life as mirror reflection and moved the part of audience or boxes on the stage during the staging of “King Lear” in 1987. This “Reality” is even more fierce and highlighted in “Julius Caesar”. This time boxes are in the middle and left side of the stage. From right Lodge sometime itself Shakespeare observes the performance or the other participants of play. Lodge which is in the depth of the stage has a shape of Facebook’s denoting logo. From this Lodge Dato Uplisashvili observes the play tragic-farce in front of him. Robert Sturua and Mirian Shvelidze have again emphasized the fact that the world is theatre and in this theatre different puppet-characters play a life-performance at different time.
It is known that Robert Sturua is grand masters of play lighting. Artistic lighting of “Julius Caesar” with color gradation creates the mood and atmosphere of the play. Various tones of colors lay under each other the Development of Event queues in the play: Glory, love, betrayal, jealousy, conspiracy, murder and so on have the own color given by director. Assembled music by Ia Sakandelidze is also influences on the mood of the viewer: Classic, opera, contemporary compositions or songs and so called “Hits” are combined with taste. Visual nonverbal language has a great meaning in “Julius Caesar” – with signs, symbols, metaphors, scenery, props, costumes, lighting, music and of course with the cast plastic. Semiotic frame of play characteristic for the theatre language of Robert
Sturua is created by gestures. Events are unfold in Rome in Robert Sturua’s play as well as with Shakespeare in the first three actions. The director once again showed us one of the main signs such as generalization of concrete and specification of generalized what is characteristic for his theatre language and is done through existing Rome of antique period and in films of Fellini. Expressing of called as the world capital away from the Roman centuries, Sturua made final phrases existing in Shakespeare’s play visual together with verbal.