That Mark Antony was really a master manipulator.

Watching the statesman (Andrew Long) effortlessly work a crowd is one of the many joys of Shakespeare Theater's Julius Caesar, now playing at Sidney Harman Hall. The company has finally found a production that, in the capable hands of director David Muse, befits the grandeur of the company's massive new space.

Dan Kremer plays Caesar as an out-of-touch, ego-driven leader bound by superstition and plagued with bouts of cowardice. But as fans of the work know (or those who can think back to high school English class, anyway), while he may be the titular character, Caesar is much more about the fall out between the silver-tongued Antony and Caesar's assassins, Brutus and Cassius.

In the hands of Long, Antony, in spite of his rhetorical gifts, seems like an actual person, and his weary, partied-out appearance early on in the work makes us underestimate him before his great oratorical moments. Scott Parkinson's Cassius is a bit of a petulant brat, at least when contrasted with Tom Hammond's reflective Brutus, but the pair's friendship resonates through the epic tests it undergoes.

It must be said that the directors at Sidney Harman Hall sure like their drumming (last year's plodding Tamburlaine opened with the same booming sounds), but between the percussion and a ghastly image of an ash-covered soothsayer, the production certainly opens on an arresting note. Muse has heightened the thriller aspects of the play by making Caesar's death good and gory, and adds a humanistic edge by allowing particular emphasis to the plight of Brutus' put-upon wife Portia (Nancy Rodriguez, suffering with elegance). It isn't until Brutus and Cassius's final stand begins to wear on that we remember that this is, in fact, a three hour play.

Shakespeare Theater is staging Caesar in repertory with Antony & Cleopatra, with Long, among others, in the same role - we've seen the man outwit his opponents, and Long's performance here makes one eager to see what happens when love gets in the way of ambition.

Both shows run through July; tickets are available online.