Not a bad show in the end. I won’t say I didn’t notice the three hours going by, but I will say I didn’t mind, although all that authentic Elizabethan design is hard on the backside, even with the rented cushion and back-support! Rowan left at the interval as she was having trouble on the benches after her recent operation.
The performance was very good though; Jonathan Cake (Coriolanus) is a strong lead and Margot Leicester held her own as his domineering, pushy mother. My only complaint was difficulty hearing some of the dialogue; partly the inevitable open-air acoustic and partly the speed at which they spoke it (but again, really inevitable as it took them three hours to complete the play even going at that speed!)
There were two sets of stairs in The Yard, well actually two sets of long, stepped rostra leading from the direction of the entrances up to the stage, which I don’t remember from last time. They were made good use of to involve the audience in the play.
Two odd moments to note for you; the first was during the interval, realising the audience was probably 60% American tourists and maybe only 20% Brits and debating whether that said more about American tourists or British culture. Secondly, towards the end of the second half as the night had drawn in, I’m really into the ambiance of the theatre and the atmosphere of the play, when I lean forward and notice the glowing purple band around the top of the Tate Modern’s Chimney staring down at me from next door: Quite incongruous.
Anyway, to bed now; off to
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