¶Cleopatra, coming at ya

On 21 April Charter88 will join the Globe Theatre in hosting its annual 'Spearshaker' event. This year the event will present excerpts from Julius Caesar and a panel of political commentators who will examine the relevance of Shakespeare to politics today. Mark Rylance, artistic director at the Globe, spoke to Greg Power about politics, plays and empowerment.

Mark Rylance is renowned for his innovative interpretations of Shakespeare. He hit the headlines recently with the Globe Theatre's announcement that they will be staging an all-male production of Antony and Cleopatra this year, with Rylance playing Cleopatra.

But this is only the most recent of a long line of Globe productions that have shown Shakespeare in new contexts. In the last couple of years Rylance's desire to take Shakespeare to new audiences has seen him stage a production of Hamlet in Broadmoor prison, and use Henry V to illuminate leadership skills for managers in the public sector, in collaboration with the Office of Public Management.

Although some of these schemes have been sneered at by critics, the softly spoken actor has an iron commitment to bring in new audiences and an infectious enthusiasm for Shakespeare's work. Performed properly, the plays are "an experience, a sharpening of your awareness, an awakening of your ability to see and hear what is going on around you", he says.

It is this ethos, getting people to engage with the plays, that underpins everything about the Globe Theatre. The building itself (as close an approximation to the original theatre as possible with "real thatch, lime plaster, oak trees and no steel") lends itself to this aim, and it is possible to imagine the social atmosphere in which the plays were originally performed.

Active audience

According to Rylance, in the Globe the audience itself becomes part of the play. For example, the fact that it has no roof, puts all performances at the mercy of the elements. "The fact that you cannot control the weather unites audience and actors," he says. "In most theatres you experience a play in isolation. At the Globe, the actors are aware of the audience and people in the audience are aware of each other. You make them active players in the performance."

In such circumstances getting the audience to engage is not a problem.

A review of Henry V in the Observer noted that "lines which always worked well on stage positively sing at the Globe", so that during the St Crispian's day speech the audience became Rylance's "band of brothers" steeled for the sacrifice at Agincourt. If anything, the audience over-engages. At one performance of Henry V, staged shortly after the general election, the announcement that Bardolph is to be hung for stealing a cross prompted one theatre goer to shout, "that's life under new Labour for you".

While such an atmosphere is new for actors and audiences alike, Rylance is adamant that their involvement is a good thing. For too long Shakespeare's plays have been regarded as an entirely passive and academic experience, and this was certainly not the original intention.

"There is a danger, if your sole concern is for authenticity, that the play simply becomes a curiosity from the past," says Rylance. "It's not just an academic study, it's an experience and it's far more important to capture the much more vital relationship between the plays and the real world. The architecture at the Globe allows us to capture the authentic relationship that Shakespeare imagined between actor and audience."

Political content

It's this desire to capture the work's authentic spirit that has led to Rylance's previous collaborations, and it was his interest in the political content of Shakespeare that led him to Charter88.

Julius Caesar, the first play to be performed at the Globe, in 1599, heavily satirised Elizabethan politics. The growth in Caesar's power, and the conspiracy between Brutus and Cassius which culminated in Caesar's murder, had direct parallels with the court of Elizabeth I.

As Rylance notes, "In the years before the play Elizabeth had closed the Commons because it refused to raise taxes, and she gradually drew more power to the centre. The dilemma for her obedient courtiers was whether to take matters into their own hands. A closer look at Shakespeare's plays reveals that he is not 'shaking a spear' so gently. Using the mask of the fool he was making some quite radical and dangerous points about the politics of the age."

Rylance feels that the themes in Julius Caesar have an equal relevance for politics now, 400 years later. In the rivalry between political intimates, Cassius and Brutus, the somewhat shady financial dealings of the central characters, and the concerns about Caesar's style of leadership, there are undoubted parallels with the court of new Labour.

It is this issue of leadership and, in particular, the question of when effective leadership becomes a tyranny, that has most relevance. While it would be absurd to describe new Labour as tyrannical, the style of British government is becoming more presidential, and Julius Caesar provides timely comparisons with the current prime minister and the growing unrest in his party. "The role of the prime minister is changing just as much as that of Julius Caesar. The decision for the senators was whether to give him more power or 'kill the serpent in the egg'."

Power

But the play is also about more ageless issues, such as the corrupting effect of power. "People are rightly nervous about placing trust in politicians," says Rylance. "I believe that the vast majority of politicians are genuinely trying to do some good. But there is always the danger, when in a position of power, that means and ends can become blurred."

The lesson of Cassius and Brutus, he feels, is just that. While the overthrow of Caesar was intended to remove a tyrant, for Cassius and Brutus, the subsequent pursuit and maintenance of power soon became an end in itself. Rylance is a long-standing Charter88 supporter, and believes that one of the lessons from Julius Caesar is that power must be operated "through an effective framework for government and opposition". He hopes that the Spearshaker event will explore some of these themes and give the participants a new understanding of Shakespeare's work. As Rylance says, "Through his plays and his language Shakespeare was trying to empower people."

In this mission Charter88 is happy to help in any way it can.

Greg Power is Head of Campaigns and Parliamentary Affairs at Charter88.