The new summer season at the Globe augurs well for Dominic Dromgoole's new stewardship. It's called Edges of Rome, and currently they are running Coriolanus and Titus Andronicus on alternate nights. Of the two Titus certainly leaves a stronger impression, someone fainted in the performance I saw, but Coriolanus, directed by Dromgoole himself is a harder and a perhaps more accomplished play. It has less gore, but more war and even more politics.
      'Coriolanus' is the honorific given to Caius Martius in reward for his conquering of the Volsci, his further reward is the offer of a Consulship. He must have the plebeians' blessing but 'noble' Martius does not trust the plebeians to brush their own teeth, let alone have a voice in affairs of state. This gives the play its theme: power and whether the plebs can handle it. The 'groundlings', or standing audience at the Globe are wonderfully co-opted in that role right the way through the performance.
      The play is a closely argued political dialogue between arguments for elitism and mob rule, described by William Hazzlit in 1820 as 'a store-house of political commonplaces. Anyone who studies it may save himself the trouble reading Burke's Reflections or Paine's Rights of Man or the debates in both Houses or Parliament since the French Revolution'. And this is where the challenge lies for the production. Martius is a Shakespearean 'man of action' at the centre of a dense and subtle battlefield of ideas. Jonathan Cake at well over six foot is powerfully physical in the role of the obdurate Martius. He smashes through the Volsci gates when his soldiers lose their nerve, refused to bend his high-minded ideals to the common weal, charging out amongst the groundlings standing round the stage. His physical dominance of the stage is thrilling and the audience loved the energy he brought to the role. Nevertheless, some of the psychological subtleties of the play, such as the complex relationship between Martius and his mother Volumnia, beautifully played by Margot Leicester were overshadowed by the loud physicality with which he played the part.
      Andrew Vincent and Frank McCusker were excellent as the two Tribunes. They provided a sort of Mandelson and Mandelson double act, dryly plotting the manipulation of the plebs and the downfall of Martius. The plebs themselves were an amusing Dad's Army bunch of oddballs, marching out amongst the groundlings and calling out at the stage. In the final scene Jonathan Cake descends amongst them to have his heart ripped from his ribs. To have him die amongst the plebs is a powerful metaphor, but not necessarily the right one for Martius who dies at the hands of the Volsci. Also when the Volsci hand holds up the organ, it is robbed of much of its impact by the fact that you can't really see it amongst the crowd. That said, it was enjoyable show robustly directed and part of a season that is both daring and intellectual consistent with new works from, Howard Brenton and Simon Bent in July and August.
Charlie Taylor