This week, in which the Labour Party at conference has felt the need to aim for a major “reset” a mere 11 weeks after winning a landslide General Election victory, is a highly apt one for the National to open a play about the fickle nature of public opinion. Coriolanus is the most flinty and unyielding of all Shakespeare’s eponymous heroes, meaning that his tragedy is less performed than most. Yet what Lyndsey Turner’s riveting modern dress production so craftily does is make us consider characters’ previously fixed stances and attitudes afresh.
Is there the slightest chance that Coriolanus ( David Oyelowo ) might be more sinned against than sinning? Es Devlin’s striking set has distinct echoes of a modern museum of classical art, which begets the intriguing thought that this Rome is already looking back to a bygone era of glory. “Proud” Coriolanus is unrivalled on the battlefield, a soldier hero for the ages – a vigorous fight scene is interspersed with bursts of stylishly stylised slow-motion choreography – but is ill-equipped to translate military glory to civilian honour when he is advised to stand for the prestigious position of consul. All the trappings – and cameras – of our contemporary media age are here, but this supercilious man has scant interest in scrambling aboard the expected publicity bandwagon.
We too start to question the hoops he is asked to jump through to achieve civic office: why must he display his battle wounds before the assem.