PETTY MEN review Arcola Theatre 19 Nov – 20 Dec 2025

‘Ingenious but esoteric’ ★★

Two actors are in a gloomy theatre dressing room. The show, which rumbles in the background via relay, is Julius Caesar. They are understudies to Brutus (John Chisham) and Cassius (Adam Goodbody). “ He [Caesar] doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus; and we petty men walk under his huge legs”.

These men are bored because there have been a hundred performances but neither has ever been on – a pretty unlikely situation in real theatrical life – so they find playful ways of amusing themselves. They are, however, so mired in Julius Caesar that conversation is often mingled with text from the play (all captioned) and they help each other with line learning so we hear a lot of Shakespeare. Thus it inches towards being the advertised “radical reworking” of Julius Caesar.

Then something happens on stage in the distance which changes everything and we see increasing tension between the understudies. A power cut adds to the drama. And don’t forget there’s a ghost scene in Julius Caesar. Petty Men is effectively a play within a play but the storytelling gets lost.

It’s an intriguing concept but it would fall pretty flat if you weren’t familiar with the plot and text of Julius Caesar. Moreover it loses plausibility on several counts. Two actors dissing the skills of their leading man amongst themselves would refer to their colleague as “Fred Blogs” not as “Caesar”. Moreover I’m pretty sure that no actor learns lines by randomly committing act, scene and line numbers to memory. Response to cues would be far more natural. And at the Petty Men press performance a chunk of dialogue was repeated and it was unclear whether this was deliberate (and if so, why?) or down to first night nerves.

This play seems to be trying to pose some interesting questions: Can actors change the world? If you commit to an acting career what are your expectations? What can Julius Caesar teach us in 2025? And more. Sadly none of them is fully explored.

And all of that is a pity because a great deal of work and thought has evidently gone into this show which certainly highlights the talents of two decent actors and their director.

Petty Men by John Chisham, Julia Levai & Adam Goodbody

Directed by Julia Levai

Presented by Buzz Studios

Arcola Theatre, Studio 2

Box Office https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/pettymen/

Cast: John Chisham and Adam Goodbody

Direction by Júlia Levai; Set and Costume Design: Tomás Palmer; Lighting Design: Lucía Sánchez Roldán; Sound Design: Tingying Dong; Caption Design: Perri Schofield; Dramaturgy: Sofia Gallucci; Access Support: Megan Ekinsmyth; Creative Consultancy: Pinny Grylls; Technical Stage Management: Emily Darley

Produced by Tom Dixon (Buzz Studios)

Photo credits: Olivia Spencer