Coriolanus, and: The Merry Wives of Windsor (review)

The Royal Shakespeare Company presented Coriolanus and The Merry Wives of Windsor in repertory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as the second installment of a five-year residency. The company also performed the U.S. premiere of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children—adapted by Rushdie from his novel, with the help of Simon Reade, and the director, Tim Supple. Various RSC insights, roundtables, lectures, and study groups complemented the performances.

Coriolanus, directed by David Farr, was costumed as if set in the Samurai era of Japan. Three warriors were seated on low stools at the rear of the stage with their backs to the audience oblivious to the opening scene of rioting citizens including several women. A red circle on the floor often contained the action and defined who was in and out. This production distinguished simply and clearly the various factions in Rome. A copper-toned semi-circular back wall signified stone or marble thereby emphasizing the lack of softness and humanity. Guns and cigarettes blurred any real sense of medieval Japan or ancient Rome. However, the Japanese costuming suggested ritual violence, especially in the stylized movement of the stiff trousers of Coriolanus.

Greg Hicks proved himself a natural Coriolanus as he displayed contempt for commoners and impatience with fools. As he emerged bathed in Volscian blood from the gates of Corioles, he palpably loathed his own soldiers as they gloated over their pillage. His later attempt to court the favor of the stinking crowd with a smile, while wearing the tattered gown of humility, ended predictably in exasperation. Richard Cordery gives an impressive performance as Menenius, whose equally contemptuous taunting of the Tribunes underscored Coriolanus's arrogance after his last victory: "Mar-tius has more cause to be proud" (2.1.145-46).

Alison Fiske played Volumnia with an iron voice and a similar mien. Hannah Young attained the "gracious silence" (2.1.175) of Virgilia, Coriolanus's wife, with a robust emotional life. Director Farr included her in act 3 scene 2 and had her run offstage in tears as Coriolanus declared "I will not do't" (3.2.120) in response to the appeals of Volumnia and Cominius to humble himself for popular votes. Claire Carrie presented Valeria as a silly woman in her manner and even in her walk, sashaying her derriere in her first appearance.

The first act ended with Coriolanus's trial for tyranny, during which two women, kneeling at the back of the red circle briskly recorded the conduct of the event on typewriters. As the banished Coriolanus exited between the two typists, he signaled them to resume their note taking on "There's a world elsewhere" (3.3.135).

In the second act, Coriolanus, in a stylized combat scene, quickly disposed of a challenge by a servant of Aufidius (Chuk Iwuji), who soon had him in a semi-erotic embrace. When Volumnia came to plead with her son to spare Rome, Aufidius sat impassively at the rear of the set, hearing everything, yet revealing no sign that he heard or thought anything.

As the rival warriors confronted each other for the final battle and Coriolanus was about to strike the first blow with his sword, a nameless Volscian soldier shot him in the back. Coriolanus fell, rose with difficulty, and as he again raised his sword for the attack, he was shot in the back a second time and fell yet again. The mob immediately piled on to complete the desecration, which was signified when one of the assassins held Coriolanus's heart aloft.

One of the great pleasures afforded by a repertory company is that of seeing actors playing two (or more) diametrically opposed roles. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Greg Hicks was demoted to a very funny Dr. Caius, repeatedly swearing "By Got!" in a clipped nasal voice...