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Post by David J on Sept 19, 2017 11:23:37 GMT
*Gasp* is this a different set I see before me. I'm intrigued...slightly. Coriolanus in a warehouse perhaps |
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Post by Jan on Sept 19, 2017 13:19:27 GMT
The RSC seem very cautious about Coriolanus, 4 weeks in Stratford and 2 weeks in London. I think the last time they produced it it was even less. Don't know why.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2017 14:43:49 GMT
The less familar, or minor, plays usually play fewer performances. In Stratford, Titus had 37 performances in peak summer and Coriolanus has 30 in the autumn. Next summer, Merry Wives has 31.
Coriolanus isn't playing in rep in either Stratford or London. Possibly due to not sharing the set environment used for the other three Roman plays in the season. Or perhaps because it's crosscast with both the Shakespeare Rome ensemble and the Salome cast who aren't in the other Roman plays. Either way, it means they can't schedule any extra Coriolanus performances later in the Barbican season.
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Post by Jan on Sept 19, 2017 15:04:27 GMT
The less familar, or minor, plays usually play fewer performances. In Stratford, Titus had 37 performances in peak summer and Coriolanus has 30 in the autumn. Next summer, Merry Wives has 31. Coriolanus isn't playing in rep in either Stratford or London. Possibly due to not sharing the set environment used for the other three Roman plays in the season. Or perhaps because it's crosscast with both the Shakespeare Rome ensemble and the Salome cast who aren't in the other Roman plays. Either way, it means they can't schedule any extra Coriolanus performances later in the Barbican season. I'm just questioning why they see it as a minor play. Doing fewer productions because it is unfamiliar is self-fulfilling. The play will sell out with a strong leading actor - Tom Hiddleston the last time I saw it. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2017 15:18:01 GMT
I'm just questioning why they see it as a minor play. Doing fewer productions because it is unfamiliar is self-fulfilling. The play will sell out with a strong leading actor - Tom Hiddleston the last time I saw it. Not necessarily qualitatively a minor play, but it's not a set exam text and it won't particularly attract a general audience. They don't do fewer productions, but they can't sustain long runs of it. The RSC has previously gone down the star casting road, with Charles Dance. |
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Post by crabtree on Sept 19, 2017 20:12:55 GMT
Certainly not a minor play to me. It's both visceral and heartbreakingly intimate...give me this over the Histories any day. It contains some great speeches and a wonderful female lead.
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Post by Jan on Sept 19, 2017 21:03:01 GMT
Certainly not a minor play to me. It's both visceral and heartbreakingly intimate...give me this over the Histories any day. It contains some great speeches and a wonderful female lead. Agree. In my view it is a much better play than Richard III but it gets fewer productions and performances. We used to have a poster here who said it was the best of all Shakespeare plays. I've not seen it that often but it's always been good: Douglas Hodge, Michael Pennington, Charles Dance, McKellen, Greg Hicks, Hiddleston. |
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Post by lynette on Sept 20, 2017 16:08:50 GMT
Certainly not a minor play to me. It's both visceral and heartbreakingly intimate...give me this over the Histories any day. It contains some great speeches and a wonderful female lead. Agree. In my view it is a much better play than Richard III but it gets fewer productions and performances. We used to have a poster here who said it was the best of all Shakespeare plays. I've not seen it that often but it's always been good: Douglas Hodge, Michael Pennington, Charles Dance, McKellen, Greg Hicks, Hiddleston. Toby Stephens? Yeah.. I like this play but I think this play isn't put on as much as RIII because it is more one dimensional. It drives through one line with no interludes such as R's wooing of whatsename and of course there is no connection made between the hero and the audience which is so attractive. But surely the scene between C and his mum is the one of the best Sh ever wrote. A fabulous payoff Hollywood can only envy. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 20, 2017 16:28:48 GMT
Agree. In my view it is a much better play than Richard III but it gets fewer productions and performances. We used to have a poster here who said it was the best of all Shakespeare plays. I've not seen it that often but it's always been good: Douglas Hodge, Michael Pennington, Charles Dance, McKellen, Greg Hicks, Hiddleston. Toby Stephens? Yeah.. I like this play but I think this play isn't put on as much as RIII because it is more one dimensional. It drives through one line with no interludes such as R's wooing of whatsename and of course there is no connection made between the hero and the audience which is so attractive. But surely the scene between C and his mum is the one of the best Sh ever wrote. A fabulous payoff Hollywood can only envy. I agree the character of Coriolanus is so uncompromisingly unsympathetic that not many actors want to play it, they prefer getting a few laughs with Richard III. Branagh/Dench played it at Chichester I think - I missed that one. |
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 20, 2017 17:01:27 GMT
I saw that one in 1992. On paper superb cast: Branagh, Dench, Briers, Glen and Harker, sadly however with the exception of Iain Glen as Aufidius the rest were miscast in what was a hugely disappointing performance!
I thought the RSC version in 2007 with Will Houston and Janet Suzman was v good.
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Post by Jan on Sept 20, 2017 17:44:22 GMT
I saw that one in 1992. On paper superb cast: Branagh, Dench, Briers, Glen and Harker, sadly however with the exception of Iain Glen as Aufidius the rest were miscast in what was a hugely disappointing performance! I thought the RSC version in 2007 with Will Houston and Janet Suzman was v good. The RSC William Houston one did more performances in USA than Stratford, you will have been one of the few who saw it. Why was Dench miscast in the Chichester one ? |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 20, 2017 21:27:25 GMT
The Houston version was married by Timothy West forgetting his lines over and over again.
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Post by cirque on Sept 21, 2017 18:09:08 GMT
oh dear
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Post by martin1965 on Sept 21, 2017 18:18:25 GMT
The Houston version was married by Timothy West forgetting his lines over and over again. Was it? Not from my memory, dont understand where this comes from. Ive seen West in quite a few things and never noticed anything untoward. |
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Post by lynette on Sept 21, 2017 18:28:46 GMT
I have
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Post by oxfordsimon on Sept 21, 2017 18:51:57 GMT
The Houston version was married by Timothy West forgetting his lines over and over again. Was it? Not from my memory, dont understand where this comes from. Ive seen West in quite a few things and never noticed anything untoward. It certainly was a major feature of the performance I attended. It wasn't him playing a forgetful character, it was him getting lost in the text. It might, of course, have been a really bad one off but it made it a very anxious watch. It did have a very erotic wrestling match between Coriolanus and Aufidius... So not all bad |
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Post by Jan on Sept 21, 2017 19:37:42 GMT
The Houston version was married by Timothy West forgetting his lines over and over again. Was it? Not from my memory, dont understand where this comes from. Ive seen West in quite a few things and never noticed anything untoward. I'm afraid this was mentioned at the time and has been a feature of some plays he's appeared in since then. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2017 21:25:18 GMT
Why is Prunella Scales known as the Houston version? Is she a hurricane survivor?
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Post by David J on Oct 5, 2017 20:08:31 GMT
Eh...
I too think this is an underrated play with so many political and social things to say, but it is a challenging one to get right. Unfortunately this production has so far living up to the challenge
It's a neatly packaged production with the minimal use of rising shutters, the usual horse and lion statue, gangways brought on by the unmistakable backstage crew amongst the actors
The battle scenes are uninspiring quite frankly. Everyone in modern uniform except they use swords. There's continuous flashes of light in the background yet the only sound comes from the small orchestra playing the most uninspired string music
Sope Dirisu only shows hints of fire and petulance as Coriolanus. The rest of the cast give good performances, including Sean Hart understudyingAufidius
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Post by David J on Oct 6, 2017 7:28:28 GMT
If there's one performance that should be seen it is Haydn Gwynne as Volumnia. She practically overshadows everyone with her imperious performance and the climactic scene is certainly the highlight of the show.
Otherwise, this production sums up this Roman Season as a wasted opportunity. In this day and age there is so much to highlight in these plays and yet RSC played them straight and safe
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Post by cirque on Oct 6, 2017 9:03:31 GMT
i thought this was dire and the conclusion of a season unworthy of the RSC.
Why not stronger directors......and,above all,actors who can deliver.Casting is a major problem here and gets weaker by the season.it seems that Greg Doran cannot attract actors or directors to commit for full seasons.
Straight and safe-you say.Dull and lacklustre with token updates.
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Post by crabtree on Oct 6, 2017 12:35:11 GMT
The Tom Hiddleston production was lean, mean and sexy.
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Post by theatremad on Oct 7, 2017 9:53:46 GMT
General question. I seem to have had good seats for various reasons this year in the RST. What are the Upper Circle Restricted View like nowadays. Are they stil just a column in the way for some of the space or worse due to the thrust?
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Post by bee on Oct 9, 2017 14:29:21 GMT
In general this was decently acted but it all felt a bit tired. At least two of the modern Shakespeare cliches mentioned in the “ban hoodies” thread were in evidence – lots of hugging soldiers and of course the plebians all swanning about in hoodies and baseball caps. Visually I felt like I’d seen it all before.
It must be hard work playing a character who is almost always enraged about something, and Sope Dirusu wasn’t bad by any means but after a while I was sort of no longer listening to him, all I was hearing was more shouting. The other actors had more chance to be subtle and Haydn Gwynne and Paul Jesson were good as Volumnia and Menenius respectively.
Not really recommended I’m afraid.
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Post by lynette on Oct 14, 2017 22:43:14 GMT
I agree with most of the above having just seen the last performance here in Stratford. Haydn Gwynn is fab, acts everyone off the stage and she can’t help it, the rest aren’t much to shout about. Sope Darius is obviously an adorable human being, you can see from his curtain call demeanour and has a great face which we saw close cos we wos in good seats by the right hand run off thingie...but....he doesn’t have the range in his voice and the skill in his command of the stage. I saw Toby Stephens and Tom Hiddleston both of whom have both voice and skill required. But both on smaller stages. I’m thinking film work or tv for this one. May I be proved wrong in his no doubt in the planning Othello.
As for what David says above about doing the Roman plays straight this season, if only they had. Ant and Cleo I think came off best because frankly you can’t mess it about too much ( yes, I know, the never to be forgotten Mirren show at the NT) but trying to make parallels between Ancient Rome and today's Europe needs much more thought. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to bring out the contemporary relevance but a few hoodies and clanging metal gates do not hack it.
Coriolanus comes historically, if you believe he existed at all, before the shenanigans of Julius Caesar et al and I’m thinking perhaps it should have come first in this series showing as it does the mob, the threat of being thrown off the Rock and so on. Later the senate seems in control but then hey, that mob takes over again and is used by Mark Antony. Ant and Cleo shows us the last gasp of the Republic before as we know, the Dictator, whom they fear might take over in Coriolanus, actually prevails. Coriolanus in modern dress doesn’t make sense to me. And ahem, the swords which are essential to the text, but modern combat uniforms?
The actual progression of history gives us more to think about today. So I’m not sure they really thought it through , this Roman season. But there was nothing to be ashamed of, fullhouses and appreciative I thought. Theses concept seasons are troublesome and Doran loves them. I think they risk dull direction and some daft decisions as they try to fit the plays into the concept. I have the deepest respect for Doran and have loved his own directed plays in the past. Not sure what lies ahead.
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