Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Julius Caesar, with Harriet Walter as Brutus, has finished five weeks in schools across England and now moves into The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon for a November run that is already sold out.
The Royal Shakespeare Company and KPPL Productions spent the autumn taking the staging to five RSC Associate Schools, a week at a time, in Peterborough, Newquay, Bradford, Nottingham and Blackpool. More than 3,500 students saw it on that circuit, and each residency came with workshops, debates and careers sessions alongside the performances, while teachers in several subjects built lessons around the play.
The production has a long road behind it. Julius Caesar opened Lloyd's all-female Shakespeare Trilogy at the Donmar Warehouse in 2012, went on to play London, New York, prisons and schools, and was filmed with the BBC in 2016. This version runs at 90 minutes as part of the RSC's First Encounters with Shakespeare strand, which trims the plays for young audiences who may be meeting them live for the first time; the same strand has The Comedy of Errors lined up under director Francesca Goodridge.
The framing is unchanged from the Donmar original: a company of women in prison stage Shakespeare's account of a republic turning on its leader, and the power games of the jail press in on the politics of Rome. Returning alongside Walter are 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 company 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).
KPPL, the company Lloyd runs with producer Kate Pakenham, comes to Stratford fresh from James Graham's Punch, whose West End run won it the Sky Arts Award for Theatre this year. Lloyd framed the tour as a promise kept: "Our pledge with Harriet to take Julius Caesar into schools marks our belief that young people deserve world-class theatre — the absolute best of the best. If they cannot afford to come to us, we are coming to them."
Jacqui O'Hanlon, the RSC's Director of Creative Learning and Engagement, tied it to the company's wider schools work, which is marking 20 years under the banner Building Partnerships: A 20-Year Story: "Every child, in every postcode, should have meaningful access to the arts as part of their education."
The Stratford run carries a programme of its own. Post-show discussions, billed as "Part 2s", take up questions the production raises, among them who is shaping the next generation, what citizens can do when political leadership fails, whether prison is ever the right place for women, and whether art can save lives. Speakers include Manuela Perteghella MP, Geoff Barton, Rachel Frank, Dr Sonya Ruparel and Paula Harriott of the Unlock Collective, with contributions from the Remand Collective, No More Exclusions and young people from the Positive Youth Foundation's Changemakers programme.
The production also renewed Lloyd's work with women at HMP New Hall, alongside the RSC's Criminal Justice Associate Artist Rachel Frank. Cast members visited the prison's drama group every week during rehearsals and the full company spent two days there before the tour began; the women's own responses to the play will be shown in an exhibition at The Other Place. On Saturday 21 November 2026 a Young Creatives Festival, curated by the RSC's Youth Advisory Board, brings around 200 young people from the tour schools to the theatre to share work of their own.
Set and costumes are by Bunny Christie, lighting by Zeynep Kepekli, sound by Pete Malkin after the original design by Tom Gibbons, and movement by Carolina Valdés after the original by Ann Yee. Fights are by Kate Waters, voice and text work by Barbara Houseman, and casting by Matthew Dewsbury CDG, with original casting by Anne McNulty and Vicky Richardson. Jordana Golbourn is associate director, with Reiltin Hart and Deborah Andrews as associate set and costume designers.
First Encounters: Julius Caesar runs at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, from Thursday 5 to Saturday 28 November 2026, with press night on Wednesday 11 November 2026. Every performance has sold out.
Production photos from the Julius Caesar schools tour
For more information, visit the official website.
