[lit-ideas] Friday Review
- From: Paul Stone <pas@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 14:56:11 -0400
Coriolanus: The Play and The Script -- William Shakespeare
After playing the rock god on Thursday, I returned to my stuffy self on
Saturday and went with an old University chum for our semi-yearly excursion
to Stratford to see their production of "The Tragedy of Coriolanus". I
re-read the play on Friday evening [the night before] and thought "hmmm,
that's inconsequential". This might have been more aptly titled "Little Ado
about Nothing". And... even as they presented it as faithful to the 1616
Folio version, as Shaw said, it could have been a comedy.
First, the script.
I couldn't figure out what this play is about. By the end, I realized, it
wasn't really about anything. I think I've read about 30 of the 39 plays
that are attributed to The Bard, and Coriolanus is by my estimation, the
most straightforward -- even for a tragedy -- that I can remember. The
basic plot [key word being basic] is two guys, let's call 'em Brutus and
Lartius get it in their head that Caius Marcius t'aint worthy of the
moniker Coriolanus (from Corioli) and is a bad guy, conceited and mean to
the peasants, and should not be in power. Coriolanus is a great warrior,
but a bit full of himself. In the middle acts, it turns out he's a bit of a
mama's boy -- weirdly, this is actually played for comedy by Shakespeare --
more on that later.
These guys manage to get Coriolanus banished and turn the peasants against
him in a scene that is surely an inspiration for Monty Python's "Witch
Sketch" -- you know, where they bring in a lady with a fake nose, warts and
a pointy hat and say "burn 'er BURN 'ER!" So, anyway, back to the plot, oh
wait, that IS the plot. I can't reveal anymore without spoiling it for you,
but I am going to do that because this 'tragedy' is most certainly
tragically flawed in that it fails to reek of anything tragic.
So... Coriolanus goes to visit his archenemy Aufidius (in disguise for a
few lines) and then reveals himself to his nemesis, much the way a fake
superhero would. Coriloanus is like "The Tick". He crashes through life
with a bizarre bravado but obliviously so. Finally, in one of the most
neck-breaking endings in Shakespeare, there is a short gathering, Aufidius
orders C killed; everyone pounces on him and stabs him, and Aufidius makes
one last, wholly unmemorable speech. This last scene makes MacBeth's ending
seems uncontrived. After reading this I was left with a feeling of "WHY?"
Why did they kill him? And WHY did Shakespeare write this play?
There are no "at the base of pompey's statue" or "to be or not to be?"
here. Not a memorable line in the lot. Even when people are speaking in
couplets, it doesn't seem like it.
To put it bluntly, it's not one of S's best plays and certainly the worst
"Tragedy" of his that I've ever read -- and the only one I haven't read is
Timon of Athens.
NOW... the Play itself:
After meeting at a carpool parking lot on the main highway towards
Stratford -- it was my turn to drive -- we departed on a brisk, but sunny
Sat. morning and arrived at our favourite little pub "the boar's head" at
11:27. My friend Dan said "pretty good timing Paulie, you said 11:30" as we
walked in the door. We feasted on traditional English goo as he had some
kind of chicken pot pie and I had a big sandwich with various meats and we
washed it down with some draught -- since our Stratford outings are usually
afternoon showing, it's one of the few days of the year I let myself imbibe
before noon. Yes I know this entire paragraph is impertinent to the
'review', but I'm trying to set the mood.
About 1:15 we headed over to the festival theatre to continue our drinking
before the 2:00 play, but to our chagrin, the doors wouldn't open until
nearly 1:40 -- what a buzzkill. We managed to scarf down a few more before
the first act began. Thankfully, because we were in for a LONG day.
Apparently, it was the very first showing of the play and we were
rewarded with 40 dollar tickets (regular price is 97 for our seats, but we
are che.... frugal) for nice balcony seating. Colm Feore, an actor who is
from our home town area and who has actually starred in some hollywood
films -- most notably as Glenn Gould in "32 short films about GG" and in
the tv biopic of P.E.Trudeau - was playing the lead role and was his usual
good self. I've probably seen him in a dozen roles over the years at
Stratford and he always brings an interesting take on characters. Two of
the other main characters were also good with stage veterans Paul Soles
[Meninius -- a mentor] and Martha Henry [Volumnia C.'s momma]
BUT... something disturbed me greatly in this play that I've never
experienced before. Two of the other MAIN characters were bad actors. I'd
never seen such a thing at a professional production. To make things worse,
their characters were already badly written [Aufidius and Cominius]. Since
they weren't all that often on stage with the first three actors, it made
for a very rocky up and down of good and bad scenes. It was a good thing we
had beer to keep us happy and TWO intermissions to enjoy it.
The general presentation of the play was faithful to the text but there
were at least half a dozen laughs to be had. These were not due to
witticisms of a Caesar or philosophical ponderings of Hamlet. They weren't
nearly as funny as Branagh's presentation of Henry V's segue of "You have
witchcraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of
them than in the tongues of the French council; and they should sooner
persuade Harry of England than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes
your father." They were just funny because the context of what was being
said was inconsistent with what was being said -- bad William!
Anyway, the play was mainly enjoyable, if a little too long -- clocking in
at 3:25 -- including 24 minutes of intermissions. I'm glad we didn't pay
the full price for the tickets, but it was a good day out for the boys to
get away from 'them' for a day. I'm sure we'll have a lot more fun at
"Twelfth Night" later in the season.
over and out,
Paul {cub reporter}
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