Coriolanus – The fallen hero

“Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight with hearts more proof than shields”

Seeing and reading once more “Coriolanus”, one can see the modern vibe of the story and characters. Whether the action takes place in Rome or has been moved inside the borders of a Balkan style conflicted land like in the Ralph Fiennes directorial debut in 2011, the characters bear similarities with what we find on the political battlefield. The power struggle between hypocrisy and pride. Clinging to your dignity or succumb to the whims of the skilled politicians.

Josie Rourke brought together a great cast. Tom Hiddleston, Mark Gatiss, Deborah Findlay, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Hadley Fraser offer a new and fresh take on a classic Shakespearian work. The play is fast-paced, energetic, set in the small space of Donmar yet giving more than a take on the big screen. Modern yet with a firm grasp on the time and decorum of the Roman times. The design, the costumes and the stage set remind me of the Romanian production of “Hamlet” by Tompa Gabor with the late Adrian Pintea in the lead. It’s basically the best of both worlds. You get the old and the new and with  “Coriolanus” you might understand the play and the characters better than you did before. It’s cheeky and in your face at times, it’s sensual and dramatic when the plot calls for it, it’s bittersweet and tragic. The end leaves you breathless. William Shakespeare can be found in the curricula of any school around the globe so there’s no room for the calls of no spoilers concerning the play. Read your Shakespeare kids. There’s no happy ending here.

Tom Hiddleston is an accomplished actor who can take any role at this point. When you go and deliver Henry V and make an international audience cheer for the king like he’s a superhero, then you know you’re not looking at an amateur. Caius Martius Coriolanus played by Hiddleston is strong, ruthless, full of pride and arrogance yet incapable of fighting the machinations of the senators and becoming one of them. It’s a very difficult role to sell to an audience, to make them understand and feel compassion for the fallen general. It took Tom Hiddleston two minutes from the moment he entered the minimal stage at Donmar to give a lesson and how to act, on how to make a severe character charismatic. It’s a tour de force for the actor who silenced 6000 fans at the San Diego Comic Con with a glare and a smirk. The role is complex; it requires a lot of energy, from the violent clash with Aufidius (Hadley Fraser) to the more intimate scenes with Volumnia (Deborah Findlay) and Menenius (Mark Gatiss). You feel for the character, you understand his motives, you cringe at the way he’s killed – maybe one of the most daring and brutal scenes seen in the last ten year on the stage.

Hadley Fraser’s Aufidius is a man who wears his heart on the sleeve. He embraces a former enemy as a brother, as a soul mate, he trusts him until he realizes his hopes are crushed by a treaty that is unsatisfactory for his army. The scenes between Fraser and Hiddleston are powerful. If you feel like jumping from the chair when they fight and groan in pain from the wounds, it’s then and there that you realize you’re watching a great play. There’s a partnership and a brotherhood between the former enemies blossoming from the incapability of the Roman Senate to control and abide to the request of their new Consul. Brutus (Elliot Levey) and Sicinia (Helen Schlesinger) are a deadly duo. They seem comic, they seem weak but in fact they orchestrate Coriolanus fall with the ability and cold blood of a ruthless politicians.

Coriolanus mother, Volumnia (Deborah Findlay) stands proud of her son. Young viewers might recall Vanessa Redgrave’s take on the character yet Deborah Fraser comes with a new layer, you feel the maternal instincts, her anguish when she’s seeing her family torn apart, standing by her daughter-in-law, comforting her and at the same time trying to convince Coriolanus to save Rome. There’s a mutual realization seen in their eyes and the way the actors deliver their lines, Hiddleston’s Caius realizing the fate awaiting him and Findlay’s Volumnia hoping for a safer resolution. The tragic family is completed by the presence of Virgilia, Birgitte Hjort Sorensen channeling the strength of a Roman wife, standing by the side of her powerful husband.

Mark Gatiss exudes confidence and joviality as Menenius. He’s the old friend, the elder brother, the father figure, the one who loses everything when Caius sends him away from the enemy camp. Coriolanus and Menenius rise and fall together and again, it has to be said, in the hands of less experienced actors, the roles would have been static, Hiddleston and Gatiss bring layers to them. They come to life in front of the audience.

Josie Rourke take on “Coriolanus” is a modern one without becoming too modern. The stage is empty, a row of chairs used in the scenes by the cast, a wall that becomes the canvas of the emotions for the Roman people, paint, blood, grit, grim. It’s blood, sweat and tears on stage as you live with the characters. That’s what a play should give you, that’s the perfect theater experience. The moment when you lose yourself completely in the play and you feel. You know the story, you know what to expect yet the production manages to surprise you.

“Coriolanus” at Donmar Warehouse was an unique experience. Two hours and a half of finding once more the beauty of William Shakespeare’s writing, brought to our viewing pleasure by a great cast, ensemble and crew.  Go and see it. It’s a one in a lifetime experience and you will crave for more.

review by Ioana Raluca Popescu

Words of a non-believer

by Miriam Mircea

I went to London and to Donmar Warehouse to let myself be convinced of Tom Hiddleston’s acting abilities on stage, which is not at all like acting in a movie, where you get chances to fix what you might have done wrong. I am not a movie critic, nor someone specialized in renditions of Shakespeare on stage. Like some people, I too have read Shakespeare and I too have understood parts of his work and pretended to have understood other bits for the sake of a social context. I was extremely curious, as a person open to cultural experiences and as a fan of Tom Hiddleston, to see how Shakespeare would be once more brought to life. I stood corrected from the very beginning of the play. I became interested and succumbed to the dancing-like acting of the cast, who blends beautifully together. Although Tom Hiddleston has the lead role, all characters get their moments of glory in the spotlight. Impeccable acting embraced by gifted actors.The whole cast and team of Coriolanus has delivered an immense body of work and thanks to those efforts,Shakespeare is yet again dwelling among us,in the modern world. Chapeau!