After having seen and LOVED this production from Canadian Stratford, it was rather shocking and absurd to come to IMDb and see it have a rating of only 3.5 stars out of 10 (based on 115 votes at the time of this writing, late March 2021). That is of course ridiculous. These ratings are not made by Shakespeare appreciators. I was in awe of this production, which very successfully aims to make this hard-to-penetrate play understandable by emphasizing precisely what the play is all about: politics.
Our main character, Coriolanus, is a warrior who detests all non-warriors, and has only scorn for all values that we would consider civilized. The play takes play at a time when the people of Rome are in revolt against their elites, demanding food and democratic power. Coriolanus, and the people around him (his mother, Menenius, Cominius, etc.), are part of the elite, and the play effectively chronicles the class struggle between the people and the elite. The people grow more and more powerful, eventually ousting Coriolanus, who sees no other recourse but to join with the Volscians, the enemies of Rome, and as one of their commanders, attempt to conquer Rome. But in the meantime, Coriolanus' own mother and the rest of the Roman elite have evovled to be more in line with the people, and they beg him not to destroy Rome. Surprisingly, he is moved by his mother's plea, and resolves instead to make a peace treaty between Rome and the Volscians. The leader of the latter, Aufidius, is not amused, and kills Coriolanus as a traitor at the end.
This production is modern, to be sure - you won't see Roman garbs here. But no one puts this play on in Roman attire anymore. The play is so political that it BEGS to be some form of a reflection of our own current-day politics. As this opened, I was instantly engaged and caught up in it, quite amazed and impressed with the cutting-edge stagecraft on display here (a previous commenter, Fred_Walker, claims that the props are "non-existent" - he must not have seen the same play I did, or not understand anything about theater. All sorts of special effects were used to incredible and highly cinematic effect). Many filmed stage plays look too obviously low-budget, but this production *really* did not! It had so many great effects and such protracted sequences (like several minutes of driving a car from Rome to Antium!) that a low-budget impression was the farthest thing from my mind! Quite the contrary, this great production was much more of a "spared no expense" experience!
My rule about rating is that I'm not generous with 10-star awardings, partly because the scale is meant to rate movies and not plays. There are only one or two truly exceptional plays that I have ever rated a 10. This production is not one of them - but let me say that it almost was! This is the best CORIOLANUS I have seen; better than the RSC production from the year before; better than the 2014 Tom Hiddleston version and better than the 2012 Ralph Fiennes movie. This Stratford Festival version helped me more than any of those to understand the structure, content and point of this play, and I was spellbound by the experience. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
9 stars out of 10.
