Caligula ****

Caligula was the third Roman emperor, ruling from AD 37 to AD 41. During his four-year reign, he was initially popular, embracing a programme of reforms. That popularity quickly soured, however, as his rule descended into tyranny, extravagance, and alleged madness following a severe illness. He was assassinated on the orders of members of the Senate. His place in popular culture is assured partly due to the Malcolm McDowell film and perhaps also to the apocryphal tale that he intended to make his favourite horse a consul.

Tom Corradini’s Caligula offers a different take – a physical-theatre production that partly retells the emperor’s life while using his story as a vehicle to explore mental illness and the challenges it presents.

Frank Wilkinson (Nike Redding) is an American professor of ancient history. He has been admitted to a psychiatric ward following a severe psychotic episode. In the grip of hallucinations, he believes that he is the Emperor Caligula and has been imprisoned by his uncle Claudius.

Frank has been institutionalised following a public meltdown in St Peter’s Square and his marriage has collapsed. He is not entirely alone. Carla, a volunteer nurse (Isabella Egizi), and a fellow patient (Tom Corradini) become his companions, adopting various roles to sustain and challenge his delusions, from centurions to family members.

The mood is established early. Frank’s entrance, staged like the arrival of a keynote speaker, both fuels and signposts his delusions of grandeur. Carla is constantly striving to keep a lid on Frank’s excessive tendencies, her calming influence softening Frank, but also adopts an alter ego of a clown. The patient is roped into scenes, often struggling to keep up with Frank.

Some themes are touched upon. Caligula’s Bay of Naples’ bridge brings to mind Trump’s extravagances with the White House ballroom. Caligula understood that Romans want war, even citing “Make Rome Great Again”, a clear reference to MAGA. The story of Caligula’s horse may be a very early example of fake news.

Yet it is the production’s sensitive portrayal of mental illness, and the patient, relentless efforts required to moderate it, that resonate most strongly.

This production is rooted in the tradition of Jacques Lecoq, whose approach places movement, rhythm and the poetry of the body at the heart of theatrical storytelling. As Corradini explains: “Physical theatre is not a style — it is a universal way of thinking about the human being on stage”. This concept is superbly executed in this show, all three performers displaying their physical theatre abilities precisely and fluidly.

Caligula, alongside four other Le Coq inspired productions, runs until August 22^nd at Teatro Fisico, 45 Market St.