Items related to Coriolanus
Synopsis
The people of Rome are starving, kindling unrest and rioting. Their anger turns particularly against the arrogant Caius Marcius, who makes no efforts to hide his contempt for the common man. The riots are halted by a war with the neighboring Volscians, in which Marcius gains glory leading the Roman army in the battle for the town of Corioli. Now titled Coriolanus, he returns to Rome a hero and is selected to take a seat in the senate. But his inability to show humility, or to mask his disdain soon turns the populace against him, forcing him into exile. Shakespeare's ultimate tragedy portrays an exceptional soldier who has no place in society, who cannot accept mundane compromise for peace and is guided by a naïve machismo. Seldom performed, Coriolanus, is a captivating study of public and personal life and of the complexities and tension that marked Roman society.
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About the Author
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories and these works remain regarded as some the best work produced in these genres even today. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell, two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare, published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's. It was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as "not of an age, but for all time." Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century.
From AudioFile
On the Italian peninsula, the patrician mama's boy Coriolanus, victorious in battle, loses an election when he insults the Roman plebs. But he is not content to finance a conqueror; he himself marches with the invaders. Apparently having a low opinion of politicians and politics, Shakespeare filled this well-wrought political drama with rather unpleasant characters. This is not a perfect mounting. The players, all Brits, are uneven. Some judicious editing would have helped orient the sightless listener. The music choices are downright odd. And near the end, some actors deliver speeches without a clue to their meaning. Ah, but the virtues! This is a brisk, lean, vigorous production beautifully recorded–living theater in the finest sense. One hears not only the poetry and drama of the Bard, but the showmanship. The emphasis is on clarity, ensemble, and character. One hears the fun of actors who enjoy wrapping their tongues around Elizabethan speech, the apogee of our language, as spoken by its greatest poet. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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