Coriolanus

Our longest reading since Hamlet, Coriolanus took us 2 hours and 3/4, although it didn't feel that long. Coriolanus himself is as stubborn as they get, and refusing to grovel for votes for promotion, he ends up turning the plebs against him and getting banished from Rome. Cue defection to his life-long enemy Aufidius, and leading the opposition army to destroy his home town. Thank goodness for pushy mums - Volumnia's the only one who can talk him out of it. But by the end he's managed to piss everyone off, so they kill him. Probably for the best, eh?

We had great fun reading, although there are surprisingly few meaty parts, and instead lots of 'coughs and spits', leaving us reading multiple parts each, but mostly things like the sought-after role of 'fourth citizen'.

Our army of readers were:

Caius Martius Coriolanus - Thomas Rushforth

Lartius - Ellie Mason

Cominius, 2nd servingman - David Blatcher

Menenius - Martin Power

Sicinius, 2nd Messenger, 2nd Watch - Ed Cartwright

Brutus - Brian Eastly

Young Martius, 2nd Officer, 1st Lord, 7th Citizen - Adam Rakish

Aufidius - Gareth Bennett-Ryan

Volumnia, 3rd Conspirator, 5th Citizen - Claire Daniel

Virigilia, 1st Senator, 2nd Roman, 2nd Citizen - Mary Richards

Valeria, 1st Watch, 6th Citizen - Sheridan Turner

Aedile, Patrician, 1st Roman, 1st Citizen - Stephen Dyer

Gentlewoman, 2nd Conspirator, 2nd Lord, Volsce - Yvonne McCulloch

Lieutenant, 1st Conspirator, 3rd Lord - Rose

1st Messenger, 1st Officer, 3rd Roman, 1st Servingman - Roger Mason

2nd Senator, 1st Soldier, 4th Citizen - Sophie Leighton-Kelly

Next Month: The Winter's Tale, Sunday 29th November 2009, 6.30pm

see www.shakespearereaderssociety.co.uk for more information

Pericles

Shakespeare didn't write all of this play, and perhaps that is why it is a bit rubbish. Perhaps he was full of sack when he picked up his quill, or maybe seeing he had just churned out Macbeth, Lear and Antony and Cleopatra all that was left was dross. However this play came into being, all at the reading agreed that it was preposterous. The plot is absurd with a daughter incesting (no this is not a real verb) it up with her dad, a women being accidentally buried alive at sea, an innocent girl about to be murdered is captured by pirates and sold to a whore house where she retains her virginity by converting sinners to good men with the power of language. I mean come on Shakey, what were you playing at? Or do we blame poor George the other author. And as for Pericles, jeeeeessssus, what a miserable sod. He must of been Timon's younger brother - is Tyre near Athens? Saying all of this, the play makes for a hilarious reading. We had a riot and the reading came in under two hours (we neglected to include the drafted in passage of prose used by the Oxford to fatten the play up). I quite fancy seeing it performed now, especially if it was done by a company of clowns...

Our clowns were:

Gower, Chorus - Martin Power

Antiochus - Stephen Dyer

Pericles - David Blatcher

Helicanus - Gareth Bennet - Ryan

Cleon - Gareth Bennet - Ryan

Escanes - Ryan Nelson

Simonides - Ryan Nelson

Lysimachus - Stephen Dyer

Cerimon - Matthew Griffith

Thaliard - Adam Rakich

Philemon - Brian Eastly

Leonine - Brian Eastly

Marshal - Holly Spice

Pander - Adam Rakich

Boult - Matthew Griffith

Daughter of Antiochus - Claire Daniel

Dionyza - Yvonne McCulloch

Thaisa - Holly Spice

Marina - Maya Gabrielle

Lychorida - Rose

Bawd - Claire Daniel

Diana - Rose