“Orange Julius” Controversy: Eustis Speaks
Before Monday evening’s opening night of Julius Caesar, the artistic director of the Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, addressed the controversy (video here) surrounding their Shakespeare in the Park production. The play, he said, “warns about what happens when you try to preserve democracy by non-democratic means. Again, spoiler alert: it doesn’t end too good.†As Eustis explained in part to a supportive audience, “Like drama, democracy depends on the conflict of different points of view. Nobody owns the truth.
We all own the culture.†Both Delta Air Lines and Bank of America withdrew their sponsorship of the yearly free outdoor Shakespeare festival in response to a negative backlash received by the Public Theater’s version of the show, which depicts Julius Caesar as a blonde, modern-day Trump-like tyrant. My response: Delta and Bank of America caved to a right-wing distortion of the play, which does not celebrate assassination but depicts that chaos that occurs after it. And of course by creating controversy Bank of America and Delta and Fox News have ensured that the production is a hot ticket.
