Center
Stage with
THEATRE
REVIEWS
“Coriolanus” and “Twelfth Night” – Old Globe
Theatre
AIRDATE: JULY 10, 2009
One
of Shakespeare’s most charming comedies meets his most political drama… on the
Old Globe’s Festival Stage. Summer has officially begun; the Shakespeare
Festival is in full swing. For the first time in the six years of the
revitalized summer repertory, there’s a non-Shakespeare play in the mix. That
would be the magnificent, must-see production of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” now
joined by the Bard’s final tragedy and his most bittersweet romantic comedy.
Neither rises to “Cyrano’s” stunning heights of
perfection. It’s all a matter of nuance.
“Twelfth
Night” exists on two planes. On the one hand, it’s a frothy comedy of
cross-dressing, mistaken identity and ultimate marital bliss. But it definitely
has a dark undertone; the action begins with a shipwreck, follows two women
grieving for lost brothers, features a melancholy Fool, and concludes with an
ominous threat of revenge. The shadows are absent from Paul Mullins’ giddy
production, which is set on the sunny Italian Riviera in the 1950s, and for the
first time in memory, presents a
Shakespeare song in doo wop.
The
proceedings are light, colorful, attractive and very funny at times. But that
tinge of sobriety is missing. Even the marvelous Patrick Page, who gives a tour
de force performance as Cyrano on alternate nights, plays the pompous steward, Malvolio, strictly for laughs. His comic sense is superb.
But after Malvolio is cruelly ridiculed by the
drunken Toby Belch and his scheming accomplices, the haughty twit should offer
a touch of pathos. Not here. We’re just meant to have one heckuva
good time. And we do. Still, one could ask for a tad more depth and weight.
“Coriolanus”
is nothing if not weighty and serious, with barely any comic relief,
uncharacteristic for Shakespeare. And the title character is unlike most of the
Bard’s tragic heroes. He isn’t introspective; he doesn’t spout soliloquies. We
don’t know his motives. His arrogance brings him down; his bloodthirsty mother
props him up.
The central character is based on the
legendary Roman warrior, Gaius Martius Coriolanus. The play was originally set
in the fifth century BC, but director Darko Tresnjak has chosen to place it
between the two World Wars. He takes no overt political stance, but he’s
acknowledging the mid-century co-opting of the piece, by the fascists and the
Nazis. It’s easy to see how Coriolanus, an anti-democratic proponent of
autocracy, could be variously portrayed as someone to be revered or reviled.
Tresnjak leaves it up to us. His visual imagery is dazzling. But his lead
characters aren’t as layered or larger-than-life as they should be.
Both Old Globe productions have a great
deal to recommend them. “Twelfth Night” is always fun. “Coriolanus” is highly
charged and rarely seen. And yet, there’s the vague, nagging sense that we haven’t been given all
that we’re due.
“Coriolanus” and “Twelfth Night” run in repertory through September 27, at the Old
Globe.
©2009
PAT LAUNER