See it if
you think you don't like Shakespeare — exciting, current, ripped-from-the-headlines, superbly acted and extremely relevant for our time now.
Don't See it if
you dislike political theatre of any era; violence; classics in modern dress or hearing extraordinary language clearly spoken and expressed.
Set in a 493BC Rome that remarkably evokes a here and now America, Michael Sexton's crisp direction moves the action fast and furiously around and in the audience, seated on three sides of a simple white auditorium.
Then as now, a turbulent election elicits strong reactions from the ragged People, looking much like Occupy Wallstreet, even with the mask of the hacker Anonymous pacing in the background.
As the prideful and doomed Coriolanus, Dion Johnstone is commanding, virile, vulnerable & utterly human, each word pitched just so. Lisa Harrow is stunning as his mother Volumnia, her strength & presence formidable assets. Patrick Page plays his mentor Menenius with a gorgeous warm baritone that fills the room & belays his unctuousness. Stephen Spinella, Merritt Johnson, Rebecca S'Manga Frank, Edward O'Blenis and in fact the entire Ensemble give terrific performances for which there's no room here.
See this great & most timely production of a rarely staged Shakespeare, best before Election Day.
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