CORIOLANUS. To 29 April.
London
CORIOLANUS
by William Shakespeare translated by Kazuko Matsuoka
Barbican Theatre To 29 April 2007
Weds-Sat 7.15pm Sun 5pm
Runs 3hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 0845 120 7511
www.barbican .org.uk (reduced booking fee online)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 April
Shakespeare and Ninagawa take the town by storm..
With a 39-strong acting ensemble and expansive theatricality The Ninagawa Company sweeps into the Barbican. They recall Hamlet’s recommendation that drama should hold the mirror up to nature. At least to the Barbican stalls, implicated in the action as they’re reflected on a huge screen, before it reveals the full-width steps which fill the Barbican stage.
These create an epic space on which the crowds bay for Caius Martius’ blood, or empty before his fierce presence. It’s a battleground as Martius gains the name Coriolanus at a famous victory, or fights the enemy Volscians and their leader Aufidius.
Later, these steps become a magnificent setting for Coriolanus, stood midway between his mother Volumnia, beseeching him not to attack Rome, and, behind him, the ranks of his new Volscian friends, their torches throwing flames and smoke upwards.
At the top screens slide in and out, revealing a highly painted delicacy for the women or the rough locks of Volscian walls. It all creates a mighty environment for Coriolanus’s scornful arrogance towards the crowd and their fickle mediocrity.
But all the spectacle in the world won’t give heart to an empty parade. Director Yukio Ninagawa combines the orchestration of his mighty stage resources with the pinpointing of central characters. Principally Toshiaki Karasawa is a determined, youthful Coriolanus, revelling in the triumph of battle, firm in his martial world but unable to overcome distaste at sucking up to the popular vote – something he dismisses with fastidious contempt.
It’s clear where he got it from when Kayoko Shiraishi’s formal, dignified Volumnia, proud even as she prostrates herself, makes her plea to him with dry authority. There’s plain, honest nobility in Kotaro Yoshida’s patrician Menenius and a sense of envy to the pair of busily-working tribunes. Masanobu Katsumura’s increasingly fraught Aufidius finds his surprise ally becoming a rival in a new sense.
But Ninagawa’s most humane stroke is the creation of a small boy, presenting both innocence amid the devious, violent adults and a son who inherits Coriolanus’ strength with a measure of wisdom – I’ll run now, he says, then when I’m bigger, I’ll fight.
Caius Martius Coriolanus: Toshiaki Karasawa
Volumnia: Kayoko Shiraishi
Tullus Aufidius: Masanobu Katsumura
Virgilia: Tatsuki Kohju
Menenius Agrippa: Kotaro Yoshida
Sicinius Velutus: Tetsuro Sagawa
Cominius: Yasuyoshi Hara
Titus Lartius: Ryuzaburo Otomo
Junius Brutus: Hideaki Tezuka
Roman Senator/Patrician 1: Yutaka Oda
Citizen 5/Senator/Soldier/Officer 1: Hiroshi Tomioka
Citizen1/Soldier/Roman 1/Servingman 3: Hiroki Okawa
Citizen 2/Soldier: Masahiro Kobayashi
Citizen 4/Citizen of Antium/Soldier: Tetsuo Takase
Valeria: Norie Takahashi
Citizen 3/Soldier/Roman 3/Servingman 1: Ben Hiura
Nicanor/Citizen/Messenger/Soldier/Senator: Yutaka Suzuki
Aedile/Citizen/Soldier/Lieutenant/Senator: Eiichi Seike
Servingman 2/Citizen 7/Soldier/Officer 2: Yukio Tsukamoto
Conspirator 1/Citizen/Soldier/Senator/Sentinel 2: Masato Shinkawa
Conspirator 3/Citizen/Soldier/Senator/Lieutenant: Masazumi Nitanda
Senator/Citizen/Soldier 1/Bugler: Kiyoshi Fukuda
Messenger/Citizen/Servingman/Soldier: Takeshi Inomo
Messenger/Citizen/Servingman/Soldier: Masashi Shinohara
Sentinel 1/Citizen/Soldier/Senator: Naoto Kaji
Roman Senator 3/Citizen/Soldier/Patrician: Haruo Takayama
Roman Senator 2/ Volscian Senator 1/Patyrician 2: Katsuhiro Kitagawa
Herald/Citizen/Soldier/Senator/Conspirator 2: Tomoya Hoshi
Citizen 8/Soldier 2/Roman 2: KAI
Citizen/Soldier: Akikhiko Tsunoda
Citizen/Servingman/Soldier: Go Fujinuma
Gentlewoman: Miki Kajiwara
Citizen 6/Soldier/Messwenger: Yutaka Izumi
Citizen/Soldier/Senator: Seiichiro Kawasaki
Citizen/Soldier/Senator: Seiji Kawasaki
Messenger/Citizen/Servingman/Soldier: Takuma Harada
Adrian/Citizen/Soldier/Messenger: Yoshihisa Ishida
Citizen/Soldier: Daisuke Sugiura
Young Martius/Citizen: Chihiro Maebashi
Director: Yukio Ninigawa
Designer: Tsukasa Nakagoshi
Lighting: Tamotsu Harada
Sound: Masahiro Kunii
Composer: Yasuhiro Kasamatsu
Costume: Lily Komine
2007-04-27 00:16:32