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
