CORIOLANUS (Shake-Scene Theatre Company)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.patreon.com/shakesceneshakespeare

Available until: Unknown

Before lockdown, all I knew about Coriolanus is that yes, the last two syllables usually are pronounced in the rude way. Now, I’m a bit more educated about Shakespeare (and maybe even a bit more mature) and other parts of this play are far more interesting to me – including how surprisingly enjoyable Coriolanus is.

It’s probably not much of a spoiler to say Coriolanus is a tragedy. My copy of the play actually has the words ‘tragedy’ in the title. But whose tragedy? No spoilers, but I’d say there are two main possibilities. It could be Coriolanus who is, after all, the title character. Or it could be Scinius – he’s played by Matt Williams in this production and Matt nearly always ends up dead.

So it’s a tragedy and no, it’s not quite up there with Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth (though let’s be honest – lots of plays aren’t up there with those four but still manage to be brilliant), but it’s not just about people sitting at their Zoom screen being miserable. As always, Shake-Scene have worked to bring out the characters and to give the scenes a varied feel, ensuring their audience is amused one minute and sad the next. There are lots of great costumes to watch out for too – they’re very inventive and they work.

Director, book holder and now name-giver Lizzie Hughes has had a lot of fun with this production. There’s one name in particular which definitely isn’t in the play, but we’ll all recognise it. It’s not often you see this name and smile, but it might well happen when you watch Coriolanus. This person does have a Shakespeare connection – he was cast as Richard II at university, but he didn’t bother to learn his lines. He’s still not brilliant at saying what he needs to say. He also didn’t take his cue to resign and it’s fair to say it’s been very much a repeated cue.

The scene opens with a hilarious group of ruffians who appear every now and then – the oft-murdered Matt Williams as Scinius, Mark Cassidy as Menenius and Geoffrey Kirkness as Brutus. The actors give the characters so much personality and they’re great fun to watch.

We then meet another intriguing trio – Jenny Coverack’s formidable Volumina, Lindsey Huebner’s serious Virgilia and Ashleigh Harvey’s animated and rather pushy Valeria. You might get a bit confused by the names (especially as Coriolanus is played by a Valentina), but you won’t get confused by the characters. They’re very distinctive and a lot of fun in their opening scene and that makes the changes they go through later in the play all the more striking. This isn’t just Coriolanus’ story.

But the play is called Coriolanus and as you’d expect, Valentina Vinci is outstanding. She shows the different sides of Coriolanus’ character in a way that instantly wins sympathy for him because he always seems to be trying so hard. You want things to turn out well for him, just as you want things to turn out well for many of Shakespeare’s greatest characters (even when you know it won’t). Coriolanus goes on quite the metaphorical journey and this is mirrored beautifully in Valentina’s emotional performance.

Everyone in the cast is brilliant. Alexandra Kataigida is an endearingly smiley Cominius (who really loves a good battle), while Ellie Zeegen is a clever, passionate Auffidius (who always provides a good battle – I’d definitely rather he was on my side). Zoom shows off the wonderful tiny details in their performance which would be lost onstage. Tamara Ritthaler is powerful as Caecilius, Eugenia Low sneers beautifully as Quarlus, and Geoffrey Kirkness is an intelligent but dangerous Brutus.

Ashleigh Harvey’s Virgilia is the kind of person who’d probably make you want to scream if you met her, but when she’s only in a play, you’re only likely to scream with laughter. She’s brilliant. Matt Williams’ Scicinus is a real ruffian – exactly the kind of person you’d expect to annoy someone and end up dead (apparently, there are only 74 onstage deaths in Shakespeare’s plays and Matt has taken responsibility for quite a large percentage of them). There really is a lot to enjoy.

If you like deaths, you’ll probably love Titus Andronicus… and if you want to see Shake-Scene’s production, there is only one day to go.