Coriolanus @ National Theatre - Review
Wonderfully weird adaptation. Shakespeare would love it. ★★★★
At National Theatre, Southbank, until 9th November 2024.
Tickets from £20 (£10 during Friday Rush).
Rating: ★★★★
I am a sucker for a brazenly and unapologetically anachronistic production of Shakespeare, and this Coriolanus has it all. Early Modern English dialogue and Roman setting, overlaid with a loosely 20th Century aesthetic that just happens to use swords and helicopters jointly in battle. It’s an utterly bizarre and extremely charming collection of undeniably cool elements.
David Olewoyo as the title character continues this cool vibe. Often shirtless or dramatically swordfighting, it’s hard not to see what the Roman elite see in him, despite his violent and autocratic tendencies. Olewoyo fantastically plays stoicism with bursts of anger, never pushing past the intimidating but impressive into something less appealing to the audience. On the other end of the spectrum but equally well acted is Stephanie Street as Sicinius, a plebian politician hopelessly out of her depth in statecraft. Her delivery makes accessible, compelling and impressively modern the portrayal of a (wo)man of the people trying and failing to play high politics, without falling into farce or imitiation of any particular contemporary politician. The entire cast deserve real props for their delivery and pacing, it’s not easy to make original Shakespeare completely parseable for the modern ear, but they make it seem that way. They very clearly understand the material and meaning behind it intimately.
Much of the credit in this production goes to innovative and daring staging, alongside thoughful and perfectly executed costuming. The staging is formed of several hollow cuboids, which dramatically raise and lower throuhgout the show to create zones and reveal new elements. They are concrete, or look to be, a very clever reference to the site, and are frequently used to project pre- and live recorded video, slightly evoking 1984 or contemporary party political conferences. To add to the anachronism, the stage is laid out as a museum for many of the important scenes, with objects on white podiums- none of this is explained. Every time a new element of staging is revealed, it’s a treat, whether that be a gorgeous padded MCM bench or a fire pit. It only occasionally obscures vision from seats towards the side of the production, and never during crucial moments.
The costuming is less wacky, but scratches a real itch. The two civilizations- Romans and Bolscis- are colour coded, the former is burgandy/pink and the latter emerald green, with peasantry in yellow and orange tones. It makes a very large cast with some double-roling easy to keep track of, and allows for serious variation in styles (skirtsuits to leather armour) while maintaining a sense of consistency and curation rather than suggesting a store closet has been raided. While much of the costuming feels 20th Century (knitted ties, military formal dress, trenchcoats), there are frequent pops of loosely classical inspired costuming, including some absolutely gorgeous hammered metal head-dresses and delighfully silly leather trousers.
The only thing I wish had been explored is potentially some modernisation of the satire or sympathies. Despite being a vicious military figure with autocratic leanings and an open disdain towards the plebians, Coriolanus still comes out of it quite sympathetically. It would have been interesting to see less valourisation and more attention shifted to the characters he harms, especially the women in his life.
But an adaptation can’t do everything! And this one delivered something watchable as a modern audience due to excellent delivery and fun, modern, site-specific aesthetic choices. If I could send a modern restaging back in time for the Bard, it would be this.
You might also like:
Innovative staging:
People power:
