Shakespeare Tickets Going Fast

Ticket sales for the Loeb productions of Julius Caesar and King Lear are moving faster than "a guilty thing upon a fearful summons."

After only two days of sales, the opening performance of Julius Caesar, set for April 16, has been sold out, and seats for the other weekend performances are going quickly. Tickets for King Lear, which opens May 2, are almost gone for both opening night and its weekend showings.

Yesterday morning the line of people waiting for tickets stretched from the Loeb theatre lobby out to Brattle St. Even with this demand for tickets, however, the Loeb ticket office says that the bulk of sales came on mail orders from large school groups.

Daniel Seltzer, acting director of the Loeb and the director for Julius Caesar, said that both plays will be produced in the traditional Elizabethan style. The Loeb stage will be extended forward so the audience surrounds it on three sides.

The recent trend to produce Shakespearian plays on a very plain set and in modern dress, Seltzer said, "is the understandable last effort on the part of a director who does not understand the plot."

Rehearsals for Julius Caesar have been going on for two weeks; rehearsals for King Lear since last Sunday. Both productions will be performed again during Commencement Week.