By Andrea Burciu, Staff Writer

The Ides of March,” a one-hour Julius Caesar adapted by English professor Maureen Connolly McFeely and directed by Drama professor Chris Dippel was recently performed at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse.

Adam Griffith as Brutus and Christian Titus as Cassius shone as sweet and sour conspirators, respectively. Titus conveyed Cassius’ intense convictions well on stage, from his (literal) vein-popping fury to his whispered anguish. Caesar’s comment that “Cassius has a lean and hungry look; he thinks too much” was tailored for Titus, and a few audience members giggled in agreement. Griffith was an introverted, sympathetic Brutus. His cool, penetrating look made up for not projecting quite enough. Griffith shone best, hands down, in the scene with Portia, played by Lauren Cook. The chemistry between the two was arguably the best in show.

Chris Wentworth juggled both roles of Caesar and Octavius. Octavius was acted, Caesar was parodied. The “et, tu Brute?” line during the assassination could have been delivered with more shock. Caesar’s scene with Calpurnia, played by Chelsea Frati, though not as poignant as the Brutus/Portia scene, succeeded in showing how Caesar’s lily snaps. Shanna Brown as Decius Brutus — with an impromptu dream interpretation and the snarky look she threw over her shoulder at Calpurnia before leaving with Caesar — was spot on. Michael Butler as Marc Anthony delivered the “friends, Romans, countrymen speech” with the optimal combination of force, irony and grief. The crowd, made up of three or four actors dispersed in the audience, projected their fears and fickleness like hell. And by that, I mean well.

The shortened togas held with fibulae over modern suits worked well for the first half of the performance. Then the transition from republic to empire brought Mr. Fix-its battling it out at the Home Depot. The studded leather war skirts  looked like swinging Ho-ho’s — or worse — over jeans chopped into Bermuda shorts paired with wife-beaters graced with drawn-in abs. It was hard to take the actors seriously for a minute.

The set design of white panels concealing graffiti under drapes was a good idea, but it just fell short of its planned effect, mainly because the white draping was too transparent under stage lighting, and it was not too clear what each panel of distracting graffiti meant, other than chaos. The use of the panels to change costume worked well, since some members of the cast had up to four or five different roles to get into.

Overall, the play was performed at an appropriately quick pace and the actors bounced off each other well. The script was a good dose of recognizable speeches and scenes from the original play. It’s hard to come by something that is both free and good, but “Ides” fit the bill.

Chris Wentworth as Cassius (David Gordon-The Chronicle)