How important is it to see Caesar die? To bear witness as Rome’s senators stab him down, with Brutus delivering the final blow.

I’d argue it’s essential. It is the moment when the high-flying rhetoric of regime change meets reality, when ambition turns bloody. It can be a scene of ritualistic power as well as cold savagery.

But when you’ve chosen to costume your characters in elegantly tailored white suits, you are faced with a terrible conundrum: the laundry bill.

Brigid Zwengeni, Septimus Caton, Peter Carroll and cast in Julius Caesar. Photo © Brett Boardman

Directed by Peter Evans, this production drops the curtain just as the assassination begins, sending the audience to the interval and bringing them back for Caesar’s final gasp. When we return the senators are thoroughly bloodied (having changed costume during the break), but the pivotal moment itself – the serial knifing of a leader – has been denied us, its ritualistic shock veiled.

One can only hope the savings on trips to the dry cleaner was worth it. For me, it’s the only real misstep in an otherwise inventive, thoughtful staging that moves briskly, takes risks and resists...