Coriolanus
Beautiful day today, and I took the ferry into Circular Quay, which was quite glorious in itself. I stood out on deck as we went under the Bridge, with a triple-masted tall ship replica on one side, and a motorboat on the other, and for some inexplicable reason a helicopter buzzing by overhead. Then we rounded past the Opera House, and I felt all happy and touristy. I do love my city. Mostly.
This screening was one of the very first ones to go on sale in Sydney and as a result was completely sold out. I'm always curious as to what percentage of the population are fangirls, but no one was easily identifiable. I kind of thought any fangirls would most likely be there for Tom Hiddleston, but the most telling indication was, surprisingly, when there was a split-second glimpse of Una Stubbs in the trailer for the NT's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and an audible ripple of recognition passed through the audience. So maybe a few of them were there for Gatiss after all. I understand the play itself was written by some guy called Shakespeare a while back, but hey, like that's important to anyone but those really serious types *g*
I came out having enjoyed it, although that was a complete turn-around from how I felt at interval, which was thoroughly underwhelmed. So, in the first half, it's Rome, and the peasants are revolting, ha ha, blaming the general Caius Martius (later Coriolanus) for the price of grain. Martius doesn't give a crap, and goes off to help conquer Corioles instead, earning him the name Coriolanus (and I'm afraid it still makes me snicker - I'm twelve). In doing so, he fights opposing commander Aufidius in single combat, making a mortal enemy of him. On his return home, Mummy wants Coriolanus to become Consul of Rome, so he tries, and almost succeeds, except that two officials make the public realise just how much contempt Coriolanus has for them. Public opinion turns against him and he's banished from Rome. His family - primarily his mother and wife - and friends - primarily Cominius and Menenius - mourn his banishment. In the second half, Coriolanus seeks out his former enemy Aufidius, offering his life to him, but eventually agrees to join forces with him and attack Rome. As the attacks begin, first his former friends, then family, go and plead with him to stop. Especially moved by Mummy's plea, he agrees to a peace treaty. Outraged and furious with his betrayal, Aufidius kills him and bathes in his blood. The End.
The first half of the play was just generally shouty all around, what with all the protesting and fighting and arguing, and I kept thinking PEOPLE, SHOUTING IS NOT EMOTING. IT'S JUST SHOUTING. Except maybe on the internet. The problem is that imo very few of the people had what I think of as "theatre voices", or at least, not good ones. Theatre needs clear, sustained projection, which requires a certain amount of physical training/experience in itself, as well as vocal light and shade, just like singing. It felt as though many of the actors were really only equipped with a volume control and no other means of expressing strength of feeling - for a couple of performers the strain of the run was already very obvious, and they didn't even really have that, only a husky monotone to work with. So the first half was really just almost continuous yelling, with one movingly quiet scene right before interval to soften you up (the reaction of Coriolanus' friends and family to his banishment), which almost worked, had I not already been annoyed.
Maybe I'm just horribly biased, but I'm going to say that Mark Gatiss as Menenius really stood out for me from the beginning by delivering his lines in a clear, crisp tone of voice, making intuitive sense, and actually daring to incorporate gestures. I was a little disconcerted by how Mycroftian I found his intonations at times, but I mean, it's a patrician character, and those are the only vocal cords he has at his disposal. It's kind of like complaining that the dragon in The Hobbit reminds one of Sherlock. There are limits. So I was thoroughly impressed by his performance in general, and I had worried that I wouldn't be. So that was lovely, and the scene where he begs Coriolanus to remember their love and friendship in the second half, and is in turn rejected by him, was the most beautifully angsty thing ever, and my favourite part of the play. I adored him.
Tom Hiddleston... look, he's pretty. He also appears to be extremely intelligent, articulate, talented, and an all-round lovely human being, with a great sense of fun and mischief. He gives the best, most joyous interviews ever. You know where I'm heading with this, don't you? He was perfectly okay, or at least as good as everyone else. He was very attractive, more so than most. It's just that for someone who professes to love Shakespeare as much as I hear he does, he doesn't sell it to me anywhere as much as I'd hoped. Part of this seemed to be the lack of range in his stage voice (= quiet/shouty). Also, again like many of the cast, quite often he might as well have been reading eloquently from a hidden autocue rather than delivering the lines as though they were his actual thoughts and feelings at the time. The kind of delivery where the words just tumble out with rhythmic elegance without any real meaning or feeling appearing to be underlying them. Also, while I am always impressed by the ability to tear up at will (A+ job there), part of what he didn't sell me was the fundamental arrogance of his character. At most, he was slightly bratty. Despite all the talk of a entire class "born to rule" and his own descriptions of how much contempt Coriolanus has for the general populace, I didn't feel it. A bit of leering and mugging at the common folk isn't really enough - or actually it's almost too much, since why bother making more effort for the rabble's love than an insincere smile? His pride is ingrained, it should be in his bearing, his manner, his entire attitude towards others not of his class. Hiddleston just came across as perhaps slightly peeved by the attention, but basically someone who just wants to be loved and understood. Again Gatiss, perhaps unsurprisingly, had the condescension down pat. I will say in my defence that I went with a non-fan, who was also impressed by Gatiss's acting, but apparently Tom Hiddleston's attractiveness was equally important to his enjoyment of the play, if not more so. I feel this is probably quite unsurprising *g*
Amongst the other performers, I thought the mother Volumnia (Deborah Findley) was an absolutely fantastic character let down by a completely one-note performance. I almost fell asleep while she was begging Coriolanus to spare Rome, and that should just not happen. What I get from just listening to the words is that she's virtually the female equivalent of Coriolanus himself, only in ferocity of misdirected ambition rather than battle, but as an original Tiger Mom, she's more of a grumpy house cat. I loved Coriolanus' wife (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) in the one decent scene she got, but she really had very little to do. Apart from Gatiss, another stand-out performance was Jacqueline Boatswain as Valeria (and other smaller parts). I felt she was one of the only actors who had a decent voice and knew what to do with it. Oh, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the gifs, I still don't see the point of sexing up the scene between Coriolanus and Aufidius. Yes, there was that line about being happier to see him than his wife on their wedding night (or something), but it still all felt a bit gratuitous.
On the whole, it's a great story (if I ever read it, I've forgotten it all, so it was new to me) and the themes came through clearly and and were interesting. I remember being borderline on the Ralph Fiennes film when it came out (adore Ralph Fiennes), but passed at the time - I may have to see it now. Back to the play, I was less convinced about the music and general way the actors 'fit' together - sometimes it didn't feel like they were even in the same production, or at least, that they were aiming for different things within the same scene. But I liked the overall look of it, and some of the language was gorgeous, and I'm happy to have seen it. So... there. I'm resigned to potentially having people all cross and eye-rolly at me. But apparently I need to air my opinions anyway ;P