Anton Lesser to Play Brutus in BITE's Upcoming Julius Caesar

Anton Lesser, not Paul Rhys as previously announced, will play Brutus in the upcoming Barbican International Theatre Events BITE: 05 festival staging of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, headlined by Ralph Fiennes. The production, featuring a cast of over 100 and directed by Deborah Warner, will run at the Barbican Theatre from April 14 through May 17 before embarking on a brief European tour.

Lesser is one of Britain's better-known classical actors. His stage credits include Henry VI, Dance of Death, The Seagull, The Fool, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Kissing God, Troilus and Cressida, Principia Scriptoriae, Twelfth Night, The Plantagenets, Two Shakespearian Actors, Richard II, The Taming of the Shrew, Art, Private Lives, Dr Faustus, Cymbeline, Cloud Nine and a staging of Julius Caesar, where he took on the role of Mark Antony.

Lesser joins a cast that includes Fiennes, Simon Russell Beale, Fiona Shaw and John Shrapnel. After the Barbican, Julius Caesar will head to Théâtre National de Chaillot, Paris, Teatro Espanõl, Madrid and Grand Théâtre de la Ville, Luxembourg, which, with BITE: 05, Barbican are co-producers of the project.