Professor David Peimer
Julius Caesar: Conqueror of Gaul
Summary
Professor David Peimer explores the life, writings, leadership, and dictatorship of Julius Caesar. Specifically he focuses on the cultural commentaries that Caesar wrote that give us an idea of his broader cultural and intellectual curiosity and interest in other people’s customs of religions, of marriage, of family, of structure, of communities, technology, science, and warfare.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.
Well, it’s similar to what I was trying to say here. You know, that, is he trying to set himself up as a tyrant-type dictator, or a more benevolent dictator, who is not just loved by the people, but who’s really trying to make decisions in the interest of the people? Is he trying to go against a small elite group of aristocrats who mostly bribe their way in to be voted onto the Senate? Is he trying to do a military coup d'etat, and take over? I think Shakespeare tries to capture all of this in the play. And hence, he does have that, for example, the will is very important. Mark Antony’s great speech, where he reads that he’s left a huge amount of land and money to the ordinary people of Rome, and, you know, all the other reforms. So, I think that the ambiguity is captured there, because also, Brutus, who is one of the closest generals to Caesar, ultimately leads the assassination, and Brutus and Cassius did actually go through Rome, proclaiming, “People of Rome, we are free, we are free!”