Coriolanus

Third row seats at bargain prices, and for once without any big people or heads in the way, so that got us off to a good start.

As the play gets underway, when we first meet Coriolanus (David Oyelowo) he is smoothly mixing as part of the elite, glass in hand.  After his huge success as a general winning in a war for Rome he seeks to become a political leader but finds that a whole different thing.  He isn’t that keen on trying to appeal to the masses who he views with some contempt, and makes it clear that the games and nonsense required to gain popular support is beneath him. As a result, the Tribunes in the Senate who represent the plebs/masses don’t like him much and so successfully conspire to unseat him and get him banished. 

The wheeling and dealing that surrounds Coriolanus is tricksy, with different camps trying to get advantage. As a play about power and politics, it speaks well about the gap between the masses and the elite, populism, and the desire to retain power at any cost.  

The staging for this is impressive, with huge pillars being dropped and lifted for each scene, and used as screens to show live camera feeds at crucial points. This is another production with the use of live film integrated into the play, and I thought it was done very well in this case,  a good  example of the way that going to the theatre is often becoming a multimedia experience.   The setting of multiple  objects around the stage on plinths reminded me of a chess board but could also be a museum.  That makes the most sense at the end when Coriolanus appears as a heroic statue with his shield, viewed by a curious small boy in a museum. 

I found the first half quite confusing, particularly when there were often lots of people speaking at the same time; it's pretty tricky to deal with the leads speaking at the same time as the crowd are shouting when you are that close to the stage. But in the second half we get clarity and a real pick up in pace as Coriolanus seeks to regain his power by force, and and that’s when I really got engaged. I liked the way the ending was managed too when it all gets scrappy and messy, and all of the pretence falls away. 

I have to say that David Oyelowo puts on a powerhouse of a performance that makes it worth every minute, but again, comes to his own in the second half.  Other performances are good, but I particularly loved the two Tribunes played with an excellent mix of slyness and comedy by Jordan Metcalfe and Stephanie Street; they are one of the highlights - when they are on stage you know something interesting is going to happen, and at some points it could almost be an episode of the Thick of It with that mix of comedy and naked ambition!  

This production looks great, has some great performances and, in an era of rampant populism, hits the spot in making us think about what we actually want from our leaders.  If nothing else though, go and see it for David Oyelowo who is fab!