IT’S back to ancient Rome again at the Royal Shakespeare Company which is now in the throes of concluding its special year of the Roman civilisation.

Following his acclaimed RSC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (2013/14), Mike Poulton has turned his pen to the thrilling world of Rome of the past with a brand-new version of Robert Harris’ best-selling Cicero novels.

This epic event - which opened last week at Stratford-upon-Avon's Swan Theatre - will be staged as six plays, presented in two performances, each with two intervals, and will be directed by RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran.

The role of Marcus Tullius Cicero is played by Richard McCabe, who trained at RADA and is an RSC Associate Artist, and has appeared in countless productions for the company.

He was last with the RSC as an older Romeo opposite Kathryn Hunter in Ben Power’s A Tender Thing.

He won both Tony and Olivier awards for his performance as Harold Wilson opposite Helen Mirren in Peter Morgan’s play The Audience. Previous theatre includes Turgenev’s Fortune’s Fool at the Old Vic, and Jim Hacker in Yes, Prime Minister which played the Apollo and Gielgud Theatres in the West End, and his recent TV credits include Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, David Hare's Collateral, Harlots, Poldark, Peaky Blinders and Wallander.  

His recent film work includes The Little Stranger, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Mindhorn and Eye in the Sky.

Siobhan Redmond will play opposite him as Cicero’s spirited wife Terentia (as well as playing Calpurnia and Servilia).

Siobhan is also an RSC Associate Artist whose many past RSC productions include Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night and Dunsinane. Her huge variety of appearances on radio, film and television recently included The Replacement. She was awarded an MBE for services to drama in 2013.

The role of Cicero’s faithful servant Tiro, who narrates their adventures, is played by Joseph Kloska who was last at the RSC in The Christmas Truce in 2014. He also appeared in David Edgar’s Written on the Heart in Stratford and in the West End in 2011.

His recent work in TV and film includes Jane Eyre, Cinderella, Happy Go Lucky and the Netflix series The Crown, and on radio included regular appearances with the BBC Radio Drama Company.

The plays are Part I: Conspirator - which sees Cicero ielected consul by a unanimous vote of the Roman people. Catiline, his aristocratic rival, is furious in defeat and refuses to accept the results of the election.

And Part II: Dictator - where Cicero is now retired from politics. Julius Caesar – dictator, and commander of Rome’s armies – is assassinated. Cicero sees his death as an opportunity to restore the Republic but the assassins, Brutus and Cassius, dither as power in Rome begins to fall into the lap of Mark Antony.

Part one concludes on November 22 and part two then runs from the following day through to February 10, 2018.