Coriolanus

Shakespeare’s last Roman tragedy (written around 1605) receives uneven but compelling treatment in Angus Jackson’s 2017 production for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The protagonist is Caius Marcius (Sope Dirisu), a patrician general who wins acclaim—and the titular nickname—both for his victory over the Volscian city of Corioli and his prowess in individual combat with enemy leader Tullus Aufidius (James Corrigan). But Marcius’s contempt toward the plebeians leads to his banishment, and in his anger he offers his services to Aufidius, taking command of the Volscian forces for an assault on Rome. Only the intervention of his mother Volumnia (Haydn Gwynne) and wife Virgilia (Hannah Morrish) persuades him to break off the attack, although he is killed for his treachery when he returns to the Volscians. Like Ralph Fiennes’s film of the play (VL-5/12), Jackson’s production is in modern dress, and while it cannot replicate the contemporary weaponry and bloody battles that Fiennes favored, it compensates with extraordinarily bruising (and homoerotic) hand-to-hand combat between Marcius and Aufidius. The outstanding performances here are by Gwynne, who brings passion to her pleas, and Paul Jesson as Menenius, the senator who counsels Marcius to be more moderate. In the title role, Dirisu casts an imposing figure, but lacks the full measure of patrician arrogance, while Corrigan takes Aufidius’s lust for Marcius so far that it becomes almost humorous. With spare sets and an unobtrusive music score, this Coriolanus may not be the final word on the play, but it offers a good—albeit flawed—take. Extras include an audio commentary by Jackson, cast interviews, and a cast gallery. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)