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This week’s podcast continues our discussion of Coriolanus with some video reviews, as well as discussions of popularity and the people….
Continue reading “Podcast 149: Coriolanus – video reviews, popularity, and the people…”
Yesterday, we looked at the problematic wife in Coriolanus (problematic for scholars, not–really–for Martius), Virgilia. Today, let us turn to another V-lady in the play…no, not big mama, Volumnia, but her friend Valeria.
Ah, Virgilia (also spelled “Vergilia”), the wife of Martius in Coriolanus. What to say of her?
Well, let’s start by saying that Martius isn’t kidding when he calls her “My gracious silence” (II.i.171).
Just some random notes on Coriolanus, and the people, plebeians, and citizens…
OK, seriously…how many out there have read Coriolanus? I know, you all are, because you’re reading it with me, right? <wink> How many of you have seen a stage production (no, not the cool Ralph Fiennes movie or the adequate BBC Complete Works version, but a honest-to-[hopefully]goodness production)? Fewer hands, I’m sure (full disclosure: me, neither).
So why?
Is it a case where there’ve been productions, but since it wasn’t part of the usual arsenal of Shakespeare (Midsummer, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, and the like), you decided to take a hard pass?
Or was it because there just haven’t been productions available?
Continue reading “Coriolanus, the enemy of the popular (theater)”
OK, so yesterday, in my review of the 1983 BBC Complete Works film of Coriolanus, I talked a little about what I perceived as homoerotic aspect in the piece.
I’ve been asked if maybe I’m reading too much into this.
Judge for yourself…
In 1983, as part of the sixth and penultimate season of their Complete Works of Shakespeare series, the BBC filmed Coriolanus. Elijah Moshinsky, who had earlier directed All’s Well That End’s Well, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and (and our next play) Cymbeline, and would help one of the final installments, Love’s Labor’s Lost, was in the director’s chair for this one.
[note: yesterday, I reviewed this same filmed version of Coriolanus…but for my Masters course, I had to write a review of a Shakespeare film and I picked this one…you’ll find some overlaps, but a slightly different leaning]
In 2011, actor Ralph Fiennes made his film directorial debut with a theatrical release of Shakespeare’s rarely filmed play, Coriolanus. Noted for both stage and screen performances himself, Fiennes was able to secure major on-screen talent (including Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, and Brian Cox) to support him in this endeavor. The result is a visceral and accessible, visually striking work.
Continue reading “Coriolanus: film review – Fiennes, 2011 (take two)”
In 2011, Ralph Fiennes made his cinematic directorial debut with Coriolanus, for BBC Films. Here, he reprises a role he had played under the direction of Jonathan Kent at the Almeida Theater in London a decade earlier.
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Continue reading “Coriolanus: film review – Fiennes, 2011 (take one)”
Well, first of all, my most initial thought is a personal one: Happy Birthday to my wife of 25 years, Lisa–my most favorite person with whom to see and share Shakespeare.
But really, this is supposed to be about my initial thoughts on Coriolanus.
So here goes…
