THEATER REVIEW : Production Can’t Save Itself in Messy Attack on ‘Caesar’ : Several strong performances aren’t enough to salvage Shakespeare Orange County’s staging of the Bard’s classic tale.

Shakespeare Orange County’s foray into “Julius Caesar” is a messy one: as brawling, eloquent and conflicted as the Shakespearean play itself.

*

In this tale of a leader’s fall at the hands of political enemies, Shakespeare delivered a precise and stirring analysis of the perils of power and the jealousies it inspires. Its scrutiny of the misguided “principles” that provoke conspirators to commit murder in the name of some higher cause, and its insight into the frailties that eventually bring about these men’s downfall, is as true and as tragic as ever. Nothing changes in this old world.

But improperly tended, “Julius Caesar” can also be turgid and dense. The protracted plotting of the fall of Caesar and the protracted battles that lead up to the suicides of the chief conspirators, Brutus and Cassius, can grow wearisome if not executed with clarity, eloquence and speed.

The magnificent speeches by the sparring Brutus and Mark Antony--an inspired war of words--are the fulcrum of the play. They require actors of tremendous presence, with the emotional depth and verbal mastery to achieve their full potential.

At the Waltmar Theater on the Chapman University campus in Orange, J. G. Hertzler is an intelligent, complex and tortured Brutus, but Michael Nehring barely dents the rousing, circuitous meaning of Antony’s words.

This kind of disparity carries over into other areas of the production staged with efficiency, a modest budget and some decent if not compelling ideas by actor/director Daniel Bryan Cartmell, who also plays Caesar.

Chris Holmes has provided a pleasing all-purpose set of weathered marble columns and convertible platforms that fill the bill, with adequate lighting by David Palmer.

But Velta Hargrove’s costume choices go beyond budgetary constraints to do some defeating of their own. What murky symbolism lies behind leggings for the soldiers on one leg and not the other? The simulated Roman togas present no such conundrum, even with their odd lavender tinge, but having the actors wear them over beige latex shorts is an ungainly idea, and putting Antony in a purplish skirt does absolutely nothing for him.

There are some compensations: Cartmell’s large presence as an authoritative and serious Caesar; John Frederick Jones’ vivid Cassius, a high-strung, quintessential man of impulse and action, ardently loyal to his ideals no matter how misguided; Kamella Tate as a rambunctious Casca, not historically authentic perhaps, but tantalizing; Tamiko Washington’s tender Portia, a woman so lovingly persuasive that when Brutus weeps over her death we understand the pain.

These are the oases in a production finally damaged by more bad or incomplete ideas than good.

Christopher Du Val’s fight choreography is erratic at best, ranging from the well-engineered assisted suicides to amateurish flailing swords and banging shields. The idea of using red ribbons to symbolize blood is effective if not new, but it needs to be carried out with precision and flair. Reddish brown rags cut in strips don’t quite make it.

And then there is Jose Restrepo’s Soothsayer, lurking furtively in the shadows, striding on half-bended knees like some nefarious Big Bird loose in Rome. If sinister is what was aimed for, ludicrous is what’s achieved. Restrepo has neither the age nor experience for the job and, to add to the confusion, later plays young Cato without bothering to change his clothes.

Is this any way to ruin a show? Combined with an assortment of other shocks and aftershocks, it can be. Were Nehring a more plausible choice for the pivotal Antony, one might have been able to overlook the rest. But he is a sedentary burgher miscast as a brash young warrior. His reading substitutes a superficial verbal vigor for a visceral understanding of the man behind the words.

Cartmell’s majestic Caesar, Hertzler’s impressive Brutus and Jones’ mercurial Cassius shelter the production. From time to time they make us believe it, but in the end, they aren’t enough to save it.

*”Julius Caesar,” Waltmar Theatre, Chapman University, Palm and Center Streets, Orange. Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends Sept. 11. $21-$23; (714) 744-7016. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Daniel Bryan: Cartmell Julius Caesar

J.G. Hertzler: Brutus

John Frederick Jones: Cassius

Kamella Tate: Casca

Michael Nehring: Mark Antony

Bill Robertson: Octavius Caesar

Christopher Du Val: Lepidus/Murellus

Tamiko Washington: Portia

Cheryl Crabtree: Calpurnia

Jose Restrepo: Soothsayer/Young Cato

Joseph Foss: Lucius

Alex Brewer-Disarufino: Publius/Pindarus

Anita Bloom: Popillus Lena

John Shouse: Cicero/Titinius

Christopher Zinovitch: Trebonius/Claudius

Mark Eli Talley Caius: Ligarius/Volumnius

Bret Shefter Decius: Brutus/Strato

David Sebastian Franco Metellus: Cimber/Messala

Robert L. Stewart: Cinna/Lucilius

Randy Anderson: Varro

Emily Delk: Ensemble

A Shakespeare Orange County presentation of Shakespeare’s play. Director Daniel Bryan Cartmell. Sets Chris Holmes. Lights David Palmer. Costumes Velta Hargrove. Wigs Karen Mann. Sound Craig Brown. Fight choreography Christopher Du Val. Production stage manager Anne Kearson.