All right! Coriolanus time.
This is a perfect play for thinking about all the ways we reduce state politics to simplistic powerplays.
As always, part of the essay is free-to-read: that includes analysis of the 2011 film, to connect Shakespeare's play to today's war-weary world.
Then paid subscribers get to dive into Shakespeare's version, Plutarch's version, Livy's version, and what each history reveals to us about what "the state" really contains.
(Hint: A LOT more.)
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/coriolanus-and-coriolanus-and-coriolanus
😂 Got a lil' cure-yer-ol-anus for the coriolanus, didya?
@MLClark: Wonderful show. I was in it twice, both time as a Protean. I got to murmur and hubbub as a Citizen, Senators (V. and R.) , Usher, Captain, and Lieutenant. 🙂
Oh wow, that's terrific. I feel like, with the right direction, the secondary and background characters in Coriolanus should always be distinct and striking.
I don't doubt you were! 🙂
@MLClark: The secret is to always work to deliver focus to where it needs to go on-stage, which is usually to whomever is speaking. That said, sometimes you have to do that via acting "against" focus, if some character(s) is/are meant to be scheming or asiding. Your own diverted attention marks contrast and thereby causes the audience to notice them more.
It's great fun, like a dance and a game of chess.
This was my dad's favorite Shakespeare play.
I was in a scene study acting class where we did chunks of it, and it's always interesting to me how easy it is to connect events in Shakespeare's plays, especially his more political ones, to today's events. Some of those monologues and exchanges still pack a hefty punch as is.
People be people.
@MLClark Oooof. You hit a nerve here: "Can you not feel how much indifference to “the masses” persists in report of government actions between themselves? How many military and state forces are operating in a dialogue centrally with each other?" I definitely feel like the impotent crowd member, murmuring "lettuce and cabbages, lettuce and cabbages" on stage, as the main actors make their world-changing decisions.
Right there with you, EL Butterfield. 👍🏻 At least we're not alone!
@MLClark So interesting that you are working on a Coriolanus treatise as it relates to current politics. I just rewatched the RSC Sir Ian McKellen / Dame Judi Dench MacBeth and found myself thinking of Trump more than once.
@MLClark I had that once. Doctor gave me an ointment. 🤣