Coriolanus to 23 August 2003
London: CORIOLANUS
By William Shakespeare
An RSC Production
Old Vic Theatre in repertoire with The Merry Wives of Windsor to 23 August
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Wed & Sat 2pm
Runs 3hr 10min One Interval
TICKETS: 020 7928 7616
Review: Vera Lustig 21 June
Uneven cast and disappointing ensemble work in a flawed but bold and engrossing production with some moments of great power.
Vera reviews the RSC production now it plays in London - also reviewed by Rod Dungate at its Stratford opening.
It's apt that a production of a play teeming with anatomical metaphors should have at its heart a highly physicalised performance. This narcissistic Caius Martius, supple as a reed, is a samurai; the bare, red-floored stage, its gloom pierced by shafts of coloured light, is his habitat. Hicks's asymmetrical, yogic poses are deceptively courtly; he embodies a ritualised, dynastic blood-lust
In Alison Fiske's sonorous Volumnia, a matriarch of formidable physical eloquence, one can, literally, see where Coriolanus is coming from. The pivotal scene in which she stage-manages the family delegation to her turncoat son has a muscularity that is absent elsewhere. In the opening scene, there is no friction between the vocally strained leader of the starving mob (Lindsey Fawcett), and Richard Cordery's rotund, creamy Menenius -- a fine performance which, like Tom Mannion's shrewd Sicinius, seems cut adrift in a somewhat directionless production. Director David Farr shows a patrician disdain for the smaller roles.
Farr and designer Ti Green lack resolve when it comes to creating the world of the play. They seem unsure how far to stretch the Japanese theme: Cordery, tricked out in fussy lilac and sky blue robes, evokes The Mikado. But there are also intentional comic touches that work well. A piece of deadpan clowning by Coriolanus and two waiters is executed with such aplomb that it provides a rush of guilty pleasure. This is Hicks at his most dangerous, as he steers unnervingly close to a Hamlet-like droll insolence, while still retaining the character's essential unlikeability.
It is the actors, notably Hicks, Fiske and Chuk Iwuji (a brooding, masterful Tullus Aufidius) who create the play's world: a fetid hothouse of machismo. During a brief spell of peace, tennis players march in single file, shouldering their racquets like rifles. But beneath the martial display lies a weary pragmatism: as Coriolanus fights for his life, a soldier impassively shoots him from behind, point-blank, jolting us into the 21st century. Since Olivier's spectacular backward somersaulting death-plunge in the same role, over 40 years ago, we've all come a long way.
Caius Martius, later Coriolanus: Greg Hicks
Volumnia, his mother: Alison Fiske
Virgilia, his wife: Hannah Young
Valeria, a lady: Claire Carrie
Gentlewoman: Kate Best
Menenius: Richard Cordery
Cominus, the consul: David Killick
Titus Lartius: Kieron Jecchinis
First Senator: Patrick Romer
Sicinius Velutus: Tom Mannion
Junius Brutus: Simon Coates
First Citizen: Lindsey Fawcett
Citizens: Kate Best, Claire Carrie, Richard Copestake, Michael Gardiner, Adam Kay, Ciaran McIntyre, Karl Morgan, James O'Donnell, Patrick Romer, Lucy Tregear
Officers in the Senate: Karl Morgan, James O'Donnell
Herald: Adam Kay
Tullus Aufidius: Chuk Iwuji
First Senator: Michael Gardiner
Second Senator: Ciaran McIntyre
Watch: Richard Copestake, Kieron Jecchinis
Servingmen: Adam Kay, Karl Morgan, James O'Donnell
Other parts played by members of the company
Director: David Farr
Designer: Ti Green
Season stage designed by Ti Green and Peter McKintosh
Lighting designer: Hartley T A Kemp
Music: Keith Clouston
Movement: Lorna Marshall
Fights: Terry King
Martial Arts Instructor: Alasdair Monteith
Sound Designer: Gregory Clarke
Music Director: Richard Brown/James Dodgson
Assistant Director: Samantha Potter
Casting Director: John Cannon
Children's Casting Director: Barbara Roberts
Production Manager: Richard Howey
Costume Supervisor: Jill Pennington
Dialect coach: Charmian Hoare
Company Voice Work: Andrew Wade/Jeannette Nelson
Company Manager: Richard Clayton
Stage Manager: Xenia Lewis
ASMs: Jenny Grand/Sara E Camm
Musicians
Keyboard/Percussion/Accordion: Richard Brown/James Dodgson
Fife/Flutes/Recorders/Percussion: Lisa Mallett
Percussion: Tony McVey
2003-07-02 19:07:46