Shakespeare loved to begin his plays with a dramatic bang, immediately grabbing the audience’s attention. He does this in Julius Caesar, but in a way that might not be obvious to a modern audience.

To appreciate the effect of Flavius’ opening lines, it’s necessary to understand how the theater was perceived around 1600 when the play was first performed. At that time, the theater was a new form of entertainment, but one that attracted huge audiences from all of London’s social classes. The theaters were open Monday through Saturday, and in this era before artificial lighting, the performances took place in the afternoon.

Despite their popularity, the theaters outraged church leaders and conservative government officials who feared that the working classes were being induced to idle away their time with frivolous entertainment when they should be engaged in productive work for the benefit of society.

Politically powerful individuals had succeeded in banning the performance of plays within the city limits of London. To see a play, one had to cross the river to the seedy suburbs where the theaters were forced to relocate.

Imagine you’re a London tradesman and you want to see Shakespeare’s hot new play, Julius Caesar. You close down your shop one Tuesday afternoon and trek across the river to the Globe theater. Just when the play is scheduled to begin, an irate looking government official walks onto the stage, glares at the working class people in the audience, and yells “What are you doing here in your good clothes? Is this a holiday? Get back to work.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence, then an audible sigh of relief when everyone realizes that the man on the stage is not a government official, but an actor playing the role of a plebeian tribune in ancient Rome.