I am not much into plays and can at max boast of having watched Zangoora thrice and a small scale student led Comedy play once. That's all!
But then I wouldn't miss a chance to watch Tom Hiddleston on stage now, would I? National Theater UK is broadcasting it's most popular plays on YouTube. They are free for all to view for a week. I came to know that Coriolanus would be one of them and I managed to catch up the play online late night on Wednesday.
I don't know much about plays; nor have I read the original Coriolanus (I've only read a summary). So, this is not really a review. But, there are a few things that I liked which I would love to explain. First and foremost, I had expected a play being shown on National Theater to be grand in terms of sets, costumes, props etc. After all, National Theater is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. It is actually known as the National Theatre of Great Britain or the Royal National Theater. But Coriolanus had none of that. The stage too was fairly small in size. The lighting was dark (and very apt for the play); the costumes were all in the shades of browns, greys and black and looked nothing like Roman and were probably the individual personal belongings of the actors; and the only props/furniture used were basic wooden chairs and a ladder. In fact, the space was so ingeniously used that the small stage looked big enough for all characters to fit in. Not just that, the lead starcast and all the well-known actors were moving around the props themselves (well, all except Tom Hiddleston).
I read somewhere that the written play describes the war in fair detail. Here in stage production, although the play very smartly tackled the part where Caius Martius single-handedly conquered the city of Corioli (thus earning the name Coriolanus); but it does away with the elaborate war scenes which for some people might have been a dampener. This ensured a smaller cast too. Also, a smaller cast meant that even the plebiscite uprising was just shown as indistinct chatter. Now, as I mentioned, I have not read the original play, so I didn't miss these things in the first place. But, I was impressed with the way a lot of symbolism was used here. Caius Martius climbing a ladder as he entered Corioli was a sign of him rising to the challenge even while all others held back. Torn red ballots signifying people's shattered trust in him. The graffiti-sprayed walls demanding: "Grain at our own price." signify discontent of the Roman people. Coriolanus first kneels in obeisance to his mother and later watches her bend a suppliant knee to him; which to me signified a change of tide.
Coming to the actors, I obviously watched the play for Tom Hiddleston who I have loved since The Night Manager and whose love for Shakespeare is just so well-known. He makes a fine Coriolanus. Whether Coriolanus was a "tragic hero" or not is in itself debatable, but Tom Hiddleston brings out the nuances of a character who is raised to be a patriotic hero amply guided by his mother's hero worshiping. He, at the same time, detests the plebiscites and the common people because they contribute nothing to the war (another symbol of one's pride and allegiance towards one's nation) and still demand grains as their right. He also feels cheated because despite heeding to his unwilling attempts to appease the people, he is banished. I particularly loved him in the climax where he cries after listening to his mother pleading him not to destroy Rome. I could actually see tears run down his face... Like really flow down and him having to wipe his nose to stop them. It was a long act and it's not like in the middle of the scene he went backstage to apply glycerin or anything; so they have got to be real tears. It's mind-blowing how an actor can do that at will. Not just that, Tom Hiddleston was hanging upside down being tied to a chain on one foot. I think that's also not something that is easy to do on a stage in front of a live audience.
Among other actors, I enjoyed the performances of Mark Gatiss as Menenius, the "humorous patrician" and Deborah Findlay as Volumnia, Coriolanus' mother.
And last but not least, I write this only because a friend asked me to confirm this... Tom Hiddleston does go topless and under a shower on live stage. It wasn't very much sensual (he was supposed to be injured and in pain), but he did.
