The Romans in Britain was first performed on 16 October 1980 in the Olivier auditorium of the National Theatre, London. The play was directed by Michael Bogdanov with settings by Martin Johns, costumes by Stephanie Howard and lighting by Chris Ellis. The cast for both parts is given on pages 2 and 66.
Part One
Caesar’s Tooth
Nothing human is alien to me
Terence
I have been dead, I have been alive
Taliesin
On the run – A family and its fields – Two worlds touch – Fugitives and refugees – Caesar’s Tooth – The gods grow small – Two murders
The action takes place north of the River Thames on 27 August, 54BC and the following dawn.
Characters
The cast is as for the National Theatre premiere
| Celts | |||
| Conlag |
| Criminals | John Normington |
| Daui | James Carter | ||
| Marban | A Druid | Greg Hicks | |
| Brac |
| Marban’s | Michael Fenner |
| Viridio | foster brothers | Roger Gartland | |
| A Mother | A matriarch | Yvonne Bryceland | |
| Two Envoys | James Hayes | ||
| Peter Dawson | |||
| Village Men | Gordon Whiting | ||
| Elliott Cooper | |||
| Peter Needham | |||
| Michael Beint | |||
| Village Boy | Malachi Bogdanov | ||
| Village Women | Susan Williamson | ||
| Anna Carteret | |||
| Terry Diab | |||
| Jane Evers | |||
| Village Girls | Loraine Sass | ||
| Chloe Needham | |||
| Romans | |||
| First Soldier | Robert Ralph | ||
| Second Soldier | Robert Oates | ||
| Third Soldier | Peter Sproule | ||
| Guard | James Carter | ||
| Julius Caesar | Michael Bryant | ||
| Prefect |
| Nigel Bellairs | |
| Primus Pilus | Caesar’s staff | Artro Morris | |
| Legate | William Sleigh | ||
| Bugler | Colin Rae | ||
| Standard Bearer | Glenn Williams | ||
| Asinus | An historian | Brian Kent | |
| Fourth Soldier | Peter Harding | ||
| Fifth Soldier | Peter Dawson | ||
| Sixth Soldier | James Hayes | ||
| Seventh Soldier | Melvyn Bedford | ||
| Slave | Jill Stanford |
Scene One
Darkness. Dogs bark in the distance. Silence.
Conlag Where the fuck are we?
By the sea?
Daui?
Daui Day in, day out. Lying in a boat with salt round the back of my eyeballs. In a river up to my neck. Marshes with leeches. Moors with birds of prey. Rocks with wild cats. In sun, in rain, in snow – I have heard you ask where the fuck are we.
Conlag Well
Where are we?
Daui How the fuck do I know?
All I know is, three days of forest. Then that. Farms. Stockades. Fields.
A silence.
Conlag You can smell their food. Smell how their teeth went into it. The little squirts of fat in the meat. The spit that washed it down.
Yeah, you come out of the trees. You smell the meal, the fire, the family. All that you’ve lost.
Daui All that we’ve shat upon. And has shat upon us.
Conlag The criminal life. It’s the boils that get you.
Yeah, when you go on the run, you don’t think about getting boils.
He sniffs.
Do you smell fish?
They both sniff.
Daui No fish.
Conlag Could be near the sea, though. Maybe they don’t eat fish for religious reasons.
Daui Do you hear the sea?
They listen.
Conlag Dogs.