Editing Sejanus His Fall (section)

==Stage history==
''Sejanus His Fall'' was first performed by the [[King's Men (playing company)|King's Men]] in 1603, probably at court in the winter of that year.<ref>{{Harvnb|Ayres|1990|p=37}}.</ref> In 1604 it was produced at the [[Globe Theatre]]. Contemporary witnesses, including Jonson, reported that the cast was greeted with heckles and hisses by their first audience at the Globe;<ref name=philo/> the 1604 performance was "hissed off the stage".<ref>{{Harvnb|Ayres|1990|pp=37–38}}.</ref> According to [[Park Honan]], the later Roman works of Shakespeare, who had acted in ''Sejanus'', carefully avoided "''Sejanus''{{'}}s clotted style, lack of irony, and grinding moral emphasis."<ref>Park Honan, ''Shakespeare: A Life'', Oxford University Press, New York, 1999, p. 342.</ref>

The published cast list in Jonson's 1616 [[Folio (printing)|folio]] identifies the principal actors as [[Richard Burbage]], [[Augustine Phillips]], [[William Sly]], [[John Lowin]], [[William Shakespeare]], [[John Heminges]], [[Henry Condell]], and [[Alexander Cooke]] (listed in that order). It is not known which parts were played by which actors. David Grote argues that the published list probably mixes two separate productions, as Lowin did not join the King's Men until after the first production. However Grote suggests that the most likely roles for these performers can be identified:

<blockquote>Sejanus, the largest role and a classic over-reacher in the [[Richard III of England|Richard III]] manner, was obviously played by Burbage. The proud [[Gaius Silius|Silius]], whose confrontation with Tiberius occupies the core of the first three acts and whose suicide is a traditionally noble Roman death, most likely would have gone to Heminges, with the more military Condell as the [[Naevius Sutorius Macro|Guards Captain Macro]]. Phillips, who had been playing dissolute men for some time, would seem very likely for Tiberius if not for Jonson's hint that it was actually Shakespeare. Still, with Shakespeare as Tiberius, there is a very large role for an indignant speechmaker, [[Lucius Arruntius (consul 6)|Arruntius]], that would have taken advantage of Phillips's rhetorical skills.<ref>David Grote, ''The Best Actors in the World: Shakespeare and His Acting Company'', Greenwood Press, Westport, 2002, p. 121.</ref></blockquote> Grote further suggests that the unnamed other members of the company, [[King's Men personnel|Samuel Crosse]], William Sly, and [[Robert Armin]], played the roles of Lepidus, Terentius, and Sabinius.

From 1604 on, there is no record of a performance of ''Sejanus His Fall'' until 1928, when it was put on by [[William Poel]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Ayres|1990|p=38}}.</ref> According to the play's modern editor Philip Ayres, Poel "cut the play by roughly a quarter" to "get away from the 'literary' 1605 published version to the 'hidden' stage play".<ref>{{Harvnb|Ayres|1990|p=38}}.</ref> More recently, the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] staged the play in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Gary |title=The butcher of Rome |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/jul/18/theatre.stage |access-date=18 May 2021 |work=The Guardian|date=18 July 2005}}</ref> Later, as part of the many staged readings and livestream productions that took place during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], New York City's Red Bull Theatre produced a "livestream presentation" via YouTube on 17 May 2021 directed and adapted by Nathan Winkelstein, featuring notable Broadway and US television actors including [[Tamara Tunie]] (Sabinus), [[Laila Robins]] (Tiberius Caesar), [[Denis O'Hare]] (Sejanus), [[Keith David]] (Silius), [[Manoel Felciano]] (Natta), Matthew Rauch (Drusus), [[Stephen Spinella]] (Eudemus), and [[Emily Swallow]] (Livia), among others.<ref>{{cite news |title=Laila Robins Replaces Kate Burton in SEJANUS, HIS FALL |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Laila-Robins-Replaces-Kate-Burton-in-SEJANUS-HIS-FALL-20210512 |access-date=18 May 2021 |publisher=Broadway World |date=12 May 2021}}</ref>