[theatre] Coriolanus, Donmar Warehouse, 06-Jan-14
Sunday, January 19th, 2014 09:34 amIn a desperate attempt to actually record my cultural outings, and my responses to them ...
Coriolanus by W. Shakespeare, Donmar, 06-Jan-14
I wasn't familiar with the play, in which a war hero tries to get into politics but is foiled by (a) his contempt for the plebs (b) not being very good at anything but soldiering (c) melodrama. He doesn't want to hear his achievements lauded (especially by poor people). And his closest relationship seems to be with his once and future adversary, Aufidius (Hadley Fraser) -- though the breakdown of his friendship with Menenius (Mark Gatiss, not looking anything like Mycroft).
Reason for seeing this = Tom Hiddleston in the title role. He has immense physical presence and a lot of charisma: definitely worth watching.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladymoonray and I detected undercurrents of a certain Norse god, but that's probably the actor himself 'showing through' in both roles. Still, I did invent a drinking game along the lines of 'take a drink every time you recall Loki saying 'in the end, everyone kneels' or 'you were made to be ruled'. Would like to see Mr Hiddleston play a downtrodden pleb himself some day.
Virgilia, his wife (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) is amazing - demure and fierce by turns. Volumnia, his mother (Deborah Findlay) is stifling. Gatiss is great, and Hadley Fraser's chemistry with Hiddleston sparked.
Staging very urban: ever-changing graffiti, mob rage.
Seeing this again as a live broadcast: maybe I'll focus more on the plot than on the sheer presence of the cast.
Coriolanus by W. Shakespeare, Donmar, 06-Jan-14
I wasn't familiar with the play, in which a war hero tries to get into politics but is foiled by (a) his contempt for the plebs (b) not being very good at anything but soldiering (c) melodrama. He doesn't want to hear his achievements lauded (especially by poor people). And his closest relationship seems to be with his once and future adversary, Aufidius (Hadley Fraser) -- though the breakdown of his friendship with Menenius (Mark Gatiss, not looking anything like Mycroft).
Reason for seeing this = Tom Hiddleston in the title role. He has immense physical presence and a lot of charisma: definitely worth watching.
ladymoonray and I detected undercurrents of a certain Norse god, but that's probably the actor himself 'showing through' in both roles. Still, I did invent a drinking game along the lines of 'take a drink every time you recall Loki saying 'in the end, everyone kneels' or 'you were made to be ruled'. Would like to see Mr Hiddleston play a downtrodden pleb himself some day.Virgilia, his wife (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) is amazing - demure and fierce by turns. Volumnia, his mother (Deborah Findlay) is stifling. Gatiss is great, and Hadley Fraser's chemistry with Hiddleston sparked.
Staging very urban: ever-changing graffiti, mob rage.
Seeing this again as a live broadcast: maybe I'll focus more on the plot than on the sheer presence of the cast.
