The Royal Shakespeare Company has issued new photographs of First Encounters: Julius Caesar from its Stratford-upon-Avon run, showing Harriet Walter as Brutus in Phyllida Lloyd's all-female staging.
The production is at The Other Place from Thursday 5 to Saturday 28 November 2026, and Helen Maybanks photographed it there for this latest set of images. Every performance of the run is sold out.
Stratford is the last stop of a five-week schools tour of England. Before arriving at the RSC, the company played Peterborough, Newquay, Bradford, Nottingham and Blackpool, to more than 3,500 young people in all. The move from the classroom circuit to Stratford was announced in October.
The RSC co-produces with KPPL Productions. The show belongs to the company's First Encounters with Shakespeare programme, which cuts each play to 90 minutes for young audiences who may be seeing Shakespeare on stage for the first time.
Five of the original company return beside Walter: Jackie Clune as Julius Caesar, Leah Harvey as Mark Antony, Jennifer Joseph as Trebonius, Jenny Jules as Cassius and Carolina Valdés as Casca. New to the cast are Kosar Ali (Calpurnia, Metellus Cimber and Pindarus), Shona Babayemi (Cinna the Conspirator), Darcy Dixon (Lucius), Shalisha James-Davis (Portia and Octavius) and Siân Stephens (the Soothsayer).
Bunny Christie designs the set and costumes. Lighting is by Zeynep Kepekli and sound by Pete Malkin, from an original sound design by Tom Gibbons. Carolina Valdés directs the movement, after original movement direction by Ann Yee, and Kate Waters is fight director. Voice and text work is by Barbara Houseman. Casting is by Matthew Dewsbury CDG, with original casting by Anne McNulty and Vicky Richardson. Jordana Golbourn is associate director, Reiltin Hart associate set designer and Deborah Andrews associate costume designer.
Post-show talks run through the Stratford dates, on subjects drawn from the play, among them political leadership, the education system and whether prison is ever the right place for women. Speakers include Manuela Perteghella MP, Geoff Barton, Rachel Frank, Dr Sonya Ruparel and Paula Harriott of the Unlock Collective.
Production photos from First Encounters: Julius Caesar at The Other Place
For more information, visit the official website.
