Coriolanus on Stage

The stage history of Coriolanus is as interesting as the play itself. It has provoked riots and demonstrations, and has been used as a way of preventing riots and demonstrations. Here are a few excerpts from RB Parker’s excellent introduction to the play (The Oxford Shakespeare):

RIGHT-WING INTERPRETATIONS

?In reaction against the French Revolution, John Philip Kemble was a staunch supporter of established government; and the production of Coriolanus he opened at Drury Lane on 7 February 1789, with his sister Sarah Siddons as Volumnia, presented an interpretation in which Martius, Volumnia, and even Aufidius were idealized, the Tribunes vilified, and the plebeians represented as clownish, ineffectual dolts?EAs a neo-classicist, Kemble held that art should present universals, not idiosyncratic detail, and the ?ruling passion?Ehe found for Martius was justifiable aristocratic pride, expressed in slow, sonorous speech, commanding gesture, and statuesque poses?EBecause of Kemble?s enormous popularity in the role over nearly three decades, and the fact that he was the first methodically to publish acting versions of his productions, it was this interpretation that was spread throughout England and America by his numerous imitators?E

?In Germany, where the play had been used to query militarism, the Nazis banned Hans Rothe?s 1932 translation for radio and exiled the author, then adopted Coriolanus as a schoolbook to demonstrate to Hitler Youth the unsoundness of democracy and to idealize Martius as a heroic fuhrer trying to lead his people to a healthier society, ?as Adolf Hitler in our days wishes to lead our beloved German father-land.?EConsequently, in the early years of occupation after World War II, the American army banned the play; and when it began to be produced again in 1953, a Munich critic is reported as saying poignantly that returning German exiles, ?embittered and homesick, felt horror and understood an outcast who wanted to take revenge on his native country, his former father-land?Ebut could not do so because it was also ?a great mother, with the sweet-pain of the mother-tie.?E

IDEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS

Olivier highlights Martius?Eadolescent qualities: ?Picking up on Kean?s insight, Laurence Olivier had presented a Martius who was emotionally overdependent on his mother in a performance at the Old Vic in 1938 which established him as his generation?s leading actor; and he returned to deepen and expand this interpretation in a production directed by Peter Hall at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1959. Olivier managed to combine an energetic warrior, whose ferocious scorn in dismissing the plebeians gave Laurence Kitchin the bizarre impression of one man lynching a mob, with the sulky, teasing rebelliousness of a difficult ?child?E and he exploited Martius?Eown awareness that often he is ?acting?Eto discover an extraordinary vein of humour in the character?E?E

LEFT-WING INTERPRETATIONS

?There was a series of productions of Coriolanus in Germany between 1911 and 1920 which aimed to question that country?s militarism, but it was not until the 1930s that overtly left-wing interpretation began to appear; and, as might be expected, this first showed up in the communist countries of Eastern Europe. These invariably interpreted the play as a ?tragedy of individualism,?Eidealizing the plebeians and Tribunes, and criticizing Martius as a proto-dictator, a would-be ?superman who has detached himself from the people and betrayed them.?E

?The most celebrated communist reading of Coriolanus , however, is the adaptation that Bertolt Brecht was working on at his death in 1956. Brecht believed in thorough rewriting, and had completed a version of the last act in which, instead of being demoralized by Martius?Eattack the plebeians are organized by the Tribunes into a defence force, and it is the smoke from their armories, rather than Volumnia?s plea on behalf of the patricians,. That persuades Coriolanus to end the siege of Rome because ?Irresplaceable / Thou art no longer: now merely a threat / Mortal to all.??

?Ei> ?Coriolanus is perhaps the least dated of Shakespeare?s plays?E; and reflecting the political upheavals and psychological stresses of the late twentieth century, it has been very frequently performed since the end of World War II, with more than a dozen major productions in English alone over the last two decades [Parker was writing in 1992], including five by the Royal Shakespeare Company?ESuch a rediscovery is very gratifying, because the play is undoubtedly a major achievement. But in so far as revivals of Coriolanus in the past have heralded periods of social upheaval, it may also be a little ominous. ?Pity a society that needs heroes,?Esays Bertolt Brecht. Pity even more a society that delights to see them sacrificed.?E