NEW WORLD ORDER
Jo Kukathas
illiam shakespeare was very much part of Jo Kukathas’ childhood. “My love for Shakespeare came from Dad. He would read aloud to us from Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare. The first story he read was The Tempest and I was enthralled—what else do you need to excite a child’s imagination than awaken her to the rich, dark and compelling reality of being human?” Today, the Bard is still very much part of Kukathas’ career as an actress. She plays Julius Caesar in a modern adaptation under Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Shakespeare in the Park series, which returns after a one-year hiatus from May 2 to 27, at Fort Canning Park. At a time when populism is sweeping the world, the Guy Unsworth-directed production sees Shakespeare’s narrative, which was inspired by ancient Roman politics, brought to life against a backdrop of global current affairs where Rome is conceived as R.O.M.E.—A powerful bloc of world leaders. Kukathas explains, “Just as Rome circa 44 BC saw itself as representing the world order, R.O.M.E. circa 2018 AD sees itself as the centre of global power. But just as the Roman patricians saw Caesar’s rising populism as a cause of concern, so do [the seven countries within] R.o.m.e.—caesar’s ambition within the bloc is a source of tension in the delicate balance of power.” The Malaysian actress talks power and what makes a good leader.
Why do you think Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is still relevant over 400 years since it was first written?
It’s a play about power—the inevitable circular nature of power. More than ever, the media reveals, and simultaneously distorts, the workings of politics. In the world of Wikileaks, fake news and Cambridge Analytica, we global citizens are simultaneously enlightened and kept in the dark, told half-truths, and fed convenient lies. We know the correspondence between power and money, but we can’t prove anything. We in turn feel cynical, impassioned, impotent and enraged. And like the mob that Shakespeare writes about in this makes us either easily whipped up or completely despairing.
New York’s Public Theater’s recent production of Julius Caesar drew ire for its Trump twist. Do you think this was a case of missing the plot or was it too close to home?
A Trumpian reading is very tantalising. I can understand the desire to do that. The comparisons and readings invite this because it’s about the rise to power and the possible consequences of the assassination of a demagogue and a populist. There are no winners in such assassinations—which is kind of the point of The play is not about Julius Caesar—it’s about Brutus and his decision to enter politics. Brutus is a good man who idealistically tries to do the right thing and fails at every turn, making bad decision upon bad decision for all the right reasons. But the eulogy for him at the end is telling: this is what it is to be a man—to struggle, to do the right thing.
“Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Do you agree?
I’d need to write a five-page essay to answer that and even then it would be inadequate. But I like that Shakespeare constantly reminds us of the idea of hubris; that the gods laugh at our petty vanities but admire our desire and need to be more than what we are.
What if women ruled the world, do you think Julius Caesar would meet a different ending?
There have been many strong women rulers in history: Emperor of China Wu Zetian, Byzantine Empress Theodora and Irene of Athens. Many of them changed women’s lives for the better, but many didn’t. And women rulers have been as capable of war and mass murders— Ranavalona, Mary Tudor and Catherine de Medici. Most social structures for the last two centuries have shockingly favoured men, and women have been forced to work within a patriarchal political and religious system. What I think is important is that women’s rich histories are finally being excavated and recovered, and their place in history is being re-examined by both scholars and laymen. It’s about time.