A play like Coriolanus requires a linear adaption. For whatever reason, the people in charge of this production decided cut to different locations in A1S1 (compare to Richard II, where the camera and framing gives the audience understanding of where Aumerle &co.
Coriolanus is not among my favorite Shakespeare plays,nor is it among the most popular either.The title role isn't the easiest character to love.
The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984) (TV) was directed by Elijah Moshinsky for the BBC. The set of made-for-TV movies (cosponsored by Time-Life Books) provides a service to viewers because it presents all of Shakespeare's 37 plays.
Although the BBC Television Shakespeare series is an uneven one, as has been said more than once, it is also a truly fascinating one and a must for anybody who wants to see all of Shakespeare's plays done as part of one whole big project. A big brave undertaking that should be applauded regardless of the execution, whether continually good, continually bad or inconsistent.
This tragedy is world famous and among Shakespeare's is one of the deepest and most political. It deals with the social classes of Rome in those old days.
Coriolanus is the most problematic of Shakespeare's tragedies.Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and Lear keep us posted as to their internal states in extended soliloquies.
"Coriolanus" is a good Shakespeare play, though lack the thematic and character precision of some his better tragedies, most notably "Macbeth" which was also about a soldier.Caius Marcius - later renamed Coriolanus - (Alan Howard) returns to Rome after a proud victory over the Volscian warrior and his nemesis Tullus Aufidius (Mike Gwylim).
I don't want to be too critical of this, since it is the only available version of this play. Alan Howard does a great job in the title role, making you believe in his character, and all of the other actors do great jobs too.
Although the BBC Time-Life dramatization of Coriolanus is titled The Tragedy of Coriolanus, there is some opinion that considers the play a comedy, albeit a very dark satire of the consequences of a haughty patrician arrogance. Who is being satirized, of course, is open for discussion, but one suggestion is that the play skews the ill-fated Earl of Essex, a British commander who led a campaign in Ireland and whose overweening ego and hubris led him to the Tower and beheading at the age of 35 after the so-called Essex Rebellion of 1601.
