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National Theatre Presents A Pop of Color
Red cascades down on general Gaius Marcius Coriolanus at every turn. Within his first few moments onstage, his own blood is crusted into his short, cropped hair, and it drips down his face. When that is finally gone, rose petals float down around him and his adoring fans after the heat of battle has cooled and he has returned home victorious. And even as the petals linger, red tickets, signifying which of his fans and critics may speak to him, like modern backstage passes, litter the floor. The piles of these passes grow thicker and thicker until he is exiled from Rome. Later, in his final moments, life leading into death, once again, his own blood drips onto his head—trickling down his chest, throat and slack lips—as he is hung upside down and gutted like an animal.
This is National Theatre’s visually striking YouTube stream of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, in which the screen grabs and attracts our eyes with different pops of color throughout the play.
With a set of neutral colors, every color or other set accent steals attention. From the beginning, the tone of the set is created with a nearly empty stage, save for one black ladder, bathed in a dusty blue light, which returns throughout the play. But despite its simplicity, the set remains dynamic with a collection of simple, black chairs placed and replaced to simulate barricades during battle, senate seats and home furnishing. The back wall is a static slab of stone with the Latin phrase “ANNONA PLEBIS” graffitied on it. At some times, ladders are projected on it, at others, words like “traitor.”
Actors With Great Range
You, like this reviewer, may feel that the acting range of this cast is on par with the stunning set. Tom Hiddleston as Coriolanus projects the character onto the stage with a range from still, gentle and teary to shaking, rage-filled and bloody. In an instant, his voice transitions from echoing, gravelly shouts, to harsh whispers, and then again from icy flippancy to weary tenderness.
The two women at the right hand of the general— Volumnia, played by Deborah Findlay, and Virgilia, played by Birgitte Hjort Sorensen—also carry voices which can flip on a dime. The Volumnia we initally meet—Coriolanus’ doting mother—is ever gazing with gleaming eyes at her perfect first-born son, the Roman general and revered leader, whom she practically coos at in all her adoration. Then she is transformed to a hoarse harridan, admonishing those who threw him into exile. Hjort Sorensen’s Virgilia, similarly, goes from zero to 100 in an instant. She is the picture of the perfect wife to an ancient leader—doe-eyed and quiet, awaiting her husband’s return from battle and crying happy tears upon his return but not complaining about his time away. When he is taken from her, in an instant she bellows with ferocity we didn’t imagine she had, raging at the senate leaders who threw him out.
Fellow fans of Shakespeare modernizations might like to send a special shout out to Elliot Levey’s quippy portrayal of Brutus. Though this character shows no growth, Levey puts a unique spin on Brutus with sarcastic, often contemporarily voiced lines. Even as he is voting Coriolanus into exile, his coy smile is a comical deterrent from the blood stains and tears.
Contemporary to Ancient and Back Again
But Levey’s Brutus, with his trickster smile and black button-up and slacks, is not the only contemporary note in the show. Casual, cotton, long-sleeved t-shirts drape many of the actors, and fitted, knee-length dresses cover the noblewomen. Yet we also get notes of ancient battle—leather armor that ties up the front, heavy swords that clack with their weight, close-range fights—creep their way into the play. The close-range fights with the heavy swords are fast-paced and aimed with accuracy for the potential danger of the moves. Grunts and heavy breathing accompany, taking viewers back to a more primal time in history.
Seconds later, a noblewoman in stilettos enters the stage, and time jumps back forward to the present.
Real Theater Feel
Even for viewers sitting in bed with a bowl of popcorn on the nightstand and Coriolanus playing on a laptop, this filmed production can still almost feel like a live performance. The audio captures the slightest echo in the Donmar Warehouse theatre in which it was recorded, which creates the illusion of a larger space than a bedroom. And, filmed in 2014, the camera quality is so crisp, each drop of blood running down Hiddleston’s face can be seen from a minimized laptop window view.
Thespians, Shakespeare fans, history buffs, students of all kinds, bored quarantiners, people who aren’t quarantining but should be, protestors taking a break at home—all—should watch this play, in this reviewer’s opinion. The only people who might not enjoy Coriolanus are those with an aversity to Shakespeare—those with fear of “wouldst” and “thou” and iambic pentameter. Yet, even for those Shakespeare averse this might be a good experiment. Though Shakespearean diction is scary to those who are not used to it, modernized translations are abundant on the internet. In this reviewer’s opinion, the acting is so spot-on, picking up the vibe of a scene is easier than with the average American’s high school experience of having Shakespeare read aloud by fellow students who didn’t know what they were doing.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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CAST, in order of speaking:
First Citizen, Ensemble - Rochenda Sandall
Second Citizen, Ensemble - Mark Stanley
Third Citizen, Ensemble - Dwane Walcott
Menenius - Mark Gatiss
Caius Martius Coriolanus - Tom Hiddleston
Cominius - Peter De Jersey
Titus Lartius - Alfred Enoch
Brutus - Elliot Levey
Sicinia - Helen Schlesinger
Aufidius - Hadley Fraser
Volumnia - Deborah Findlay
Virgilia - Birgitte Hjort Sorensen
Valeria, Fourth Citizen, Ensemble - Jacqueline Boatswain
Young Martius - Rudi Goodman, Thomas Harrison, Joe Willis
CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright - William Shakespeare
Director - Josie Rourke
Designer - Lucy Osborne
Lighting Designer - Mark Henderson
Sound Designer - Emma Laxton
Video Designer - Andrzej Goulding
Composer - Michael Bruce
Movement - Jonathan Watkins
Fight Director - Richard Ryan
Casting Director - Alastair Coomer CDG
Children's Casting - Vicky Richardson
When:
Through June 11, 2 PM US Eastern Time
Tickets:
Free
Where:
Online on the National Theatre Live YouTube Channel
Photos courtesy of National Theatre.
About the Author: Summer Hoagland-Abernathy
Summer Hoagland-Abernathy is a Columbia College Chicago senior, working toward a double B.A. in journalism and playwriting. Her two passions coalesce in her love for theatre review, but when she's not writing, she can be spotted with a mug of chocolate milk in her hand and her hair piled high in a scrunchie, attempting to organize get-togethers with family, friends and her beloved. And if that doesn't help, look for the woman with a background in martial arts, who seems to be kicking the air for no apparent reason.
