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Rome, Italy

Cast List:

Mark Antony

Cleopatra

Brutus

Octavius

Cassius (potentially understudy)

Calpurnia (potentially understudy)

Enobarbus (potentially understudy role, or can be NPC)

Octavia (potentially understudy role, or can be NPC)

Lepidus (potentially understudy role, or can be NPC)

Julius Caesar (NPC)

Pompey (NPC)

(misc. Soldiers and Senators etc as additional NPC roles)

 
 
 
 
 

At the time the Plothole to the Isle of Sycorax opens:

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Julius Casear is paranoid that his friends, military and political leaders, Brutus and Cassius are planning his overthrow, and is disturbed by the prophetic dreams of his wife Calpurnia, a soothsayer, who has had dreams of a statue of Julius Caesar streamed with blood that smiling men bathed their hands in, telling him to “beware the Ides of March” and pleading with him not to go to Senate that day.

 

Brutus is a strong supporter of the Republic, and although he is Julius Caesar’s dear friend, Brutus fears Julius Caesar’s god-like ascension to tyrannical power, and fears he has ambitions to be a King rather than merely general or senator. Cassius shares Brutus’ fears, and, as a shrewd political opportunist, he manipulates Brutus into planning a coup.

 

Concerned about this foretold bloody fate and potential betrayal, Julius Caesar engages his good friend Mark Antony to help fake his death. Upon his disappearance, Julius Caesar’s successor and adopted son Octavius forms a triumvirate - a three-person coalition of leadership - with Mark Antony and Lepidus.

 

Brutus and Cassius remain terrified that Julius Caesar will return - whether as a man or a ghost - to haunt them and be revenged for their planned betrayal.

Mark Antony then travels to Egypt, where he conducts a decadent affair with the country’s Queen, Cleopatra; however, upon hearing that his wife Fulvia is dead, and that Pompey is raising an army to rebel against the triumvirate, Mark Antony returns to Rome, bringing Cleopatra with him, to the scandal of the assembled Senate.


On arrival in Rome, Mark Antony quarrels with fellow triumvirs Octavius and Lepidus, but requiring a united front in order to face Pompey, Mark Antony eventually agrees to marry Octavius’ sister, Octavia. Naturally, this angers Cleopatra, although Mark Antony’s best friend Enobarbus predicts that this new marriage will not prevent Mark Antony returning to Egypt with Cleopatra to continue their decadent lifestyle away from Rome.

As such, before the Plothole opens, the following plans are made but not yet set in motion:​

  • Brutus and Cassius were planning to betray their dear friend Julius Caesar, but although they have told the world that he is dead, he is in hiding and they greatly fear his wrath if and when he returns. They have been applying pressure to his wife, Calpurnia, to use her magical skills as a soothsayer and oracle, in order to find out where Julius Caesar is, and whether he is alive or dead.

  • Only Mark Antony knows that Julius Caesar’s death was faked, but he does not know where he is now.

  • Meanwhile, a shaky coalition has been formed between Octavius, Lepidus and Mark Antony, in order to fight the rebel army led by Pompey.

  • Octavius and Lepidus believe Julius Caesar to be dead; if he were to reappear, Octavius in particular may find it difficult to hold onto power.

  • Mark Antony and Cleopatra are in love, and Cleopatra, as a shrewd and intelligent woman skilled in both oratory and politics, has great sway over Mark Antony - he would command soldiers and ships at her word, and this greatly concerns Enobarbus, Mark Antony’s best friend and close companion.

  • Cleopatra is, however, furious that Mark Antony has agreed to marry Octavius’ sister Octavia - she wishes great harm to Octavia - especially if Mark Antony also appears to listen Octavia’s pleas to make peace with not only Octavius and Lepidus, but Brutus, Cassius and Pompey too.

  • Cleopatra is passionate, powerful and bloodthirsty, keen to encourage others to fight and kill. She is hot-tempered and has an insatiable appetite for all things hedonistic, as well as drama and theatrical performance. She is liable to either directly or indirectly act as a catalyst for violence or out-right war.

At a gathering called together by Octavius, in an attempt to make peace with enemies past, present and the potential of emnity on the horizon, all of the above characters are gathered, arguing over the future of Rome (save for Julius Caesar, who is silently listening from the nearby shadows), when a magical whirlpool appears; the Plothole envelops them all, and when they awaken, they are on the shores of an unknown island, with several others from strange lands that they do not know or recognise…

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