Et Tu

Bluesky

The frequency with which filmmakers and TV screenwriters fantasise about people getting killed when performing Shakespeare is perhaps testament to frustration left over from studying it at school. This leaves one wondering about writer/director Max Tzannes, as more people die in this production than any other to date.

Were we to follow the stars, this tale of a more than usually troubled Julius Caeser would not last very long. Instead, we begin with the underlings – hardworking Terrence (Antwone Barnes), whose director, Brent (Lou Diamoind Phillips), tells him that in time he’ll make a marvellous Brutus – and sweet, starry-eyed Margaret (Isabella Blake-Thomas), patiently absorbing Portia in the hope of getting a turn in the spotlight one day. The former has the bigger challenge. It’s plain that he’s Brent’s favourite, but he is not, like the mischievously arrogant Marcus (Brennan Keel Cook), the son of the theatre owner. Marcus doesn’t even know the lines, at one point describing an action as “right before he says ‘not you, Brutus.’” He also has a bad habit of stabbing people backstage as a practical joke, and of mixing up the stage dagger with a real one. Why exactly there is a real one in the building is never explained, but you can see where this is going.

Terrence is a sensitive young thing, to the point where everyone assumes that he’s gay. This is unfortunate where his interest in Margaret is concerned, and it complicates his relationship with the director. Phillips is as careful in his portrayal as his character is in managing his reputation, but it’s implied that Brent has got a little too close to young actors in the past, and Philip (Trevor James), understudying Cassius, is not subtle in his take on Terrence’s progress. When things become truly complicated following a violent incident backstage, Brent finds a welcome mentor in the theatre’s elderly janitor. As he’s played by Malcolm McDowell, however, viewers may find this less than reassuring.

As the plot thickens, there’s less and less room for the character work that makes this interesting, and the limitations of Tzannes’ experience start to tell, but by that point many horror fans will be happily distracted by the gore. There’s also a subplot about a curse which you’ll want to keep an eye on, obscure though it seems to begin with. Blake-Thomas gradually gets more to do, which is a definite plus, and although by the end some of the promise of the early scenes has dissipated, it just about manages to hang together. McDowell has a whale of a time in his small yet pivotal role.

Delivered with plenty of snark by a team most of whose members are all too familiar with the cutthroat world of theatre, Et Tu may be daft in places, but its high spirits carry it along. Flawed it may be, but its fault is not in its stars.

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