Coriolanus P1

Recently, we have started on the creation of our next production; Coriolanus. The basic synopsis of this Shakespearean play is as follows. A great roman general (who's name escapes me) defends Rome from an invading army and manages to take their whole city, quite literally, single-handed. Because the city was called Coriolis his official title becomes Coriolanus. He is then put forward for something that would give him even more power, but to do so he would have to plead for the votes of the plebeians ( the commoners) whom he openly despises, for one reason or another. His friend and father figure, Meneus ( sorry, I am butchering these spellings) manages to convince him to go through with. Astonishingly, it actually works, the people backing him because of his recent triumphs. All is well and good, until at the ceremony, after being convinced to do so by two corrupt tribunes (fairly important people who's job is to make sure that the senate has the peoples best interests at heart), the people riot at the gates. Coriolanus is absolutely furious believing them to be traitors. He rants at them for a couple of minutes before being exiled for good. He spends a few nights sleeping rough and feeling sorry for himself, before hitting upon an idea. He presents himself before Auphidius, his arch-nemesis who he defeated when he took Coriolis, and offers up his services as a soldier. Auphidius is unsure at first, but is eventually very happy that such a mighty warrior is now on their side. They immediately start campaigning across Roman land, it not being long before they were at the gates of Rome itself. They lay siege, while inside Rome, the people take the tribunes and presumably kill them. Meneus goes to Coriolanus and demands to speak to him. He attempts to reason with him, but Coriolanus is now honor-bound to follow Auphidius. His family then speak to him, he ignores his wife and his son threatens to kill him when he grows up. But it is his mother who he has the strongest bond with, so she successfully makes peace. Coriolanus knows that when he returns to Auphidius he will be killed so he attempts to be humble. However,  it isn't really his thing, so when accused by Auphidius of being a traitor he goes very mad indeed before being set upon by a team of assassins. After their work is complete, Auphidius actually feels remorse for his actions, so agrees to give him the proper warriors burial he deserves.

To get started on this mammoth project, we had a whole day of drama with someone from Open Minds theater, who's name, I'm afraid, I've also forgotten. We did a lot of things centering around Shakespearean text mostly, including doing read through's of the text. We also practiced lifts and fight routines, which was about as much fun you can have outside of a roller-coaster. Me and Nikki worked through a whole routine including kicks, dives and elbows. The trick was to always find space and just move into it, although in a fairly aggressive and energetic way. We experimented with certain scenes, including a riot, and managed to choreograph them well. The riot scene mainly revolved around running and miming throwing, but it was done in a repeated way that, in my opinion really worked. I'm also particularly excited about the prospect of modernisng, not the langauge, but the way people act and dress. The rebels will be an amalgamation of infamous terrorist groups like the Al-Quaida and the IRA. I think we will also draw inspiration from the Riots across England a few years ago and the various rebellions and riots we have seen in the past couple years e.g. Syria, Libya, Ukraine.

All in all, I think the skills we learnt were the one's necessary in order to move forward with our act. It is never easy reading Shakespearean text and now I actually know what is meant by the words I know what kind of feeling is to be put into them. The fighting and the lifts are both integral to the performance we will be doing and thus are meant to be known by the class so anyone can play anyone. The day has made me very optimistic about the play and now I really look forward to be a part of it.