A Bard's Real World Blog
Journal, Blog, News, and Diary

The scramble after the demise
Got the news that MP3.com is biting the dust. I'm very disappointed about that. If for no other reason, it means I need to get off my arse and start working. I've a lot to do to get us back in a position where we will earn a flood of new fans. MP3.com was great for that. I definitely could use some helpers. If you'd like to help, check out our help wanted page. I list some of the helpers we need and whatnot.

Shakespeare, do your worst!
Okay, I'll take a break from the depressing MP3.com news that's been taunting me all morn and go on to review something I saw last night--Coriolanus by William Shakespeare.

Ever heard of it? I hadn't. I mentioned it to Andrew who grew up going to the Houston Shakespeare Festival and his comment was something like, "It's the worst play by Shakespeare, which only goes to show why he's so famous."

The show is being put ont at the Vortex Theatre here in Austin and directed by none other than the amazing Lorella Loftus. If ye remember, I had the joy of working with her for the May Day celebration earlier this year.

Lorella is one of the few amazing people who can put on Shakespeare's worst and do something brilliant with it. For starters, she took a three hour play and condensed it a wee bit to just under two hours. No easy feat, but something Lorella excels in. She then put together a team of actors who are not all Prima Donnas and work their arses off, and it shows.

The play is about a legendary, prideful Roman hero, Coriolanus, who leads an army to attack the city of Corioli. There he encounters the Volscan hero Aufidius and defeats him in hand-to-hand combat.

He returns to Rome triumphant and is called by his fellow generals and Patricians to become a the Consul on the Senate, but the Tribunes fear him and lead a revolt that ends up banishing him from Rome.

So what does our great war hero do? He joins the Volscans to attack Rome. Coriolanus' friends try to dissuade him and when they succeed, he's killed by the Volscans.

That's the basic story, so what did I like/dislike about the play?

Well, admittedly don't let the intro full you. Not all the cast members are great and one of the Plebians just about ruined the play for me. She was dreadful. Fortunately, her roles were minicule. And once Caius Marcius Coriolanus enters, the story greatly improves.

Coriolanus is played by Matthew Patterson, and does a fantastic job as the intensity and grew. You could tell he put a lot of work into his rule and IMO really captured the arrogance and hot-headness of this soldier.

His arch-enemy, Tullus Aufidius of the Volscians (played by Todd Porter) did just as great a job. Shame, he didn't have more scenes. He disappears after Coriolanus kicks his arse and isn't seen again until the second half of the play.

We also can't forget Virgilia, the wife of Coriolanus, played by Melissa Vogt. She does a solid job, but course, for me the thing that made her the most was that killer Princess Leia slave girl of Jabba the Hut outfit she worries. Youch! That was hot.... mmm! Damn, sexy!

Sexiness aside. She did a solid job as a Coriolanus's loving wife and also filled in some roles as Roman Senator that she really carried well.

Menenius, the cousin of Coriolanus, played by Besty McCann was very solid. She really carried herself well. While several of the actors seemed a bit stiff at times, she didn't. Lovely and fluid, she was a very emotionally engaging person and loving friend of her cousin.

The Tribunes in general were a bit stiff, but I must commend Blake Anthony DeLong who played the Tribune, Brutus. While the majority of the play he was way too stiff and unemotional, there was one scene he kicked major arse! Coriolanus had joined the Volscians and the news was brought to the Senate. The look of terror on Brutus' face was mind-boggling. Incredible job!

On other notes, I gotta say the costuming was awesome! Coriolanus' fiery red clothing, helm and cape were just too much. I gotta get me a cloak like that! Maybe not bright red, but...

Aufidius wore some very cool tights that made his charcter standout and really emphasized his own hatred towards Rome. Actually pretty impressive.

Menenius and Volumnia (Coriolanus' mother) bhad some cool outfits... I guess I just dug it all around (and esp of course, the Jabba the Hutt slave girl outfit ;) Big huzzah to Chad Salvata and Kari Perkins who designed the costumes.

Chad Salvata also happened to nail the music for the play. It's almost entirely backed by theme music for various scenes. It blended beautifully with the performances without conflicting and still capturing the emotion of the scene.

Finally, the set design. I loved the huge sword pommel. Very cool. the blocks of "marble" were well-used by the cast. Simple and effective. Now, there was also a well-designed logo or whatever ye want to call it. On one side, ye had a lion to represent Rome. The other side there was snake eye and ring to represent the Volscians. Okay, that didn't make too much sense to me. But once explained, I thought it was a nice touch, and again the design was exquisite.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 7. That stems from the fantastic performances by Matthew Peterson, Todd Porter, and Betsy McCann. Definitely worth seeing IMO, if for no other reason than to see one of Shakespeare's "worst" plays performed extremely well. Great job, Lorella!

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Well if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer those as well.