Hear you this Triton of the minnows?

[lagilman]

If you have the opportunity to see the Donmar Warehouse broadcast presentation of Coriolanus (the one starring Tom Hiddleston, yes) go see it.

Gah, that's a rough play. But oh so brilliantly done.

Although it was amusing - half the audience was the typical live broadcast fans I'm used to from the Met Opera (hush, starving writers can't afford actual tickets to the Met), which means they were Of A Certain Age, and the other half were young Hiddles fangirls (of both genders). They studied each other suspiciously until the play started, and then we were all of a one.

(there were about five of us who were there because SHAKESPEARE from the NATIONAL THEATER and oh yeah, Hiddleston and Gatiss)

The entire cast was exceptional, with a special shout-out to Mark Gatiss, Eliot Levy (who looks a rather disturbing amount like David Coe), and Hadley Fraser. I'm not going to geeble about the actual production here, because I don't want to spoil any particular moment for people. But we can go on about it in comments, if anyone likes...

Comments

Staging

[lagilman]

And let me start of the comments by saying that the staging of this blew me away. Donmar Warehouse is exactly that - an old warehouse, and in theater terms is a Black Box - a simple square with blank walls and a flat floor, typically used with minimal set dressings and no technical wizardry (sort of the anti-Broadway ideal). Within that space, they used chairs, shadows, and paper to create the impression of the surroundings, while still retaining a slightly painful immediacy with the passion and anguish of the characters.

And the final scene - which shocked a lot of the audience who, I guess, hadn't ever read the play - was IMO brilliantly done with an economy of motion.

Vidcasting such a sparse performance is risky - there's nothing to distract the eye or mind from the performances. But that's also part of why this worked so well. Rather than being left on your own to imagine the scene, or having it spoon-fed to you, this play says "you don't need to see the scenery. Focus on us, and you will feel the scenery."

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

We did Coriolanus for the English Literature O-Level examination syllabus and yes, I'm far from surprised that it's very rarely staged.

(Our other play was The Crucible, which impressed us deeply.)

I've been hearing good reports of this one, but haven't yet been tempted.

[lagilman]

it is, as the director not-so-casually admitted, a very relevant play, right now.

But rough.

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

I need perhaps to reread it. ~40 years ago we had a differently insane political environment. and I can appreciate the changes in the world may have reignited its relevance.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

It's worth seeing. Laura Anne is right: the staging is magnificent.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I'll be seeing it with your local friend (is she on LJ?) three weeks from now and am looking forward to it.

I saw Mark Gatiss in a play when I was last in London and he was terrific. He always does good work.

[lagilman]

She abandoned LJ a while back, and I've not forgiven her for it.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

We don't get to see it here until the 16th. I've seen a production at the Donmar Warehouse, years ago, and am really looking forward to how they do this.

(Okay, yeah, fangirl, too.) (Blame Dori.)

God, I miss London theatre.

[lagilman]

Yeah, I may have squeeed to Dori via texting last night on the way home...

[jennetj.livejournal.com]

We're seeing it on the 16th. Coriolanus is my "problem" play. I've seen 3 productions, one of which was with Ian McKellan, and only the last one (with Colm Feore at Stratford) managed to make the play tolerable. But I like the cast, and I adore the director, Josie Rourke, who worked a couple of times with us (including the most brilliant Twelfth Night I've ever seen), so I'm very interested in this production.

[lagilman]

There is no way around the fact that this play is both rough (very harsh, very visceral) and uncomfortable (we aren't SUPPOSED to root for fascists, no matter how pure.) But at no point did I feel like I was being told I needed to like any of the characters, nor even particularly sympathize with them - but we could care about them.

[jennetj.livejournal.com]

Good to hear. That was the problem with earlier productions - not only did I not like any of these people, I didn't care about them. Colm Feore at least made the character comprehensible, even if he still wasn't likeable.

[lagilman]

That, for me, was the brilliance of Hiddleston's performance - even at his worst, you could feel his confusion at the world that lauded him for being X, and then tried to make him forswear X.

His mother...well, she's a piece of work no matter how you slice it, but also clearly a product of her culture and the need to survive the only way a woman could. I would have wished for a stronger role for his wife, but the actors did a lovely job with restrained touches and chemistry.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I get to see this in a couple of weeks, and I'm really looking forward to it.

... as much as someone can look forward to a problem play with no likeable characters, that is.