Ответы на все мои вопросы по поводу Тома в роли КориоланаAnyway, Tom achieved what must be a very difficult balance between making the audience care for Coriolanus in some way without making him sympathetic. What I admire about so many of Tom’s choices is that he plays characters who do terrible things (whether on a cosmic scale like Loki or a domestic one like Freddie Page) and who you probably wouldn’t want to be friends or go for a drink with, but he nevertheless finds the humanity in them. He makes it clear how they got to this point and why they behave as they do without allowing that to be a justification for their actions. I suppose the key is what he talks about in this video i.e. compassion. I might not like his Coriolanus but I certainly had deep compassion for him. Tom excelled in showing his vulnerability, not just in the much publicised scene where he is left alone to tend his wounds and we see how much pain he is actually in, but emotionally as well. The character is incredibly physical, and this production was entirely convincing on that. Part of the effect was because of the small space but I have nothing but admiration for the training Tom must have put in for the role - obviously he has to be very fit to play Loki, but it’s not obvious whereas here when he lands a blow you can really feel it. It’s not just his convincing with his fighting skills or bulking up; his whole manner in scenes where he has to fight or lead is confident and imposing. You can understand why people would follow him, but he is also somewhat frightening - there is always the sense that he could go too far, which he eventually does. It’s the difference between being able to use violence in the context of battle, and just being a violent person.
The military scenes are in stark contrast to when Coriolanus has to act in arena is is less comfortable in. He is horribly awkward when in public from the start - he makes his first entrance by shoving another character out of the way - and when he has to win votes from the people I felt truly uncomfortable on his behalf. In his real life Tom is of course incredibly good with words, and no matter how uneasy the character is, he’s still speaking Shakespeare, but the sense of intense social awkwardness was physically apparent - not everyone displays this by shyness or retreat, in fact I was brought up with someone who displays it by cruelty. But these scenes also come on the back of seeing him after the battle - not just the shower scene but more affectingly, to me, when his men praise him for his victory and give him the name Coriolanus. Tom was so visibly uncomfortable and upset during this scene that I wanted to yell at the other characters to stop torturing him. As someone with social anxiety myself I was really impressed, especially because as I said, it doesn’t slip into making the character soft in any way. By the time he has to win votes you had to wonder why the hell anyone ever thought this would be in any way a good plan.
Now, I’m not saying that Coriolanus gives the public a truth they need to hear - his rant against them is basically fascist and his anger is misdirected - the people only receive the information and candidates that the officials have given them. (Which is also of course why our MPs are more at fault than the voters although we do have Wikipedia). But he is at least showing something real, and something that everyone could have predicted would happen. Martius has been been brought up to believe that honour in war is the only thing worthwhile and has hardly spoken to the common people let alone listened to them. Menenius on the other hand has purposefully calculated to get Martius in this position, despite knowing it would require him to lie and to act entirely contrary to his personality. The tribunes, meanwhile, care more about themselves than the people they claim to represent. Yet it’s only Martius that suffers the worst consequences. Shakespeare’s genius is that despite his views being repellant, there is a curious type of honour in Martius’ actions, which lead to a curious type of admiration. This is deepened by the fact we see him acting humbly amongst his fellow soldiers, an arena in which he clearly feels more comfortable. When he has accepted that he must leave, Tom plays Martius as accepting this with stoicism, and the production has him facing being pelted with fruit at the end of the first half.
As I said, I found the second half less convincing than the first, however Tom was still really impressive. Martius begins it in disguise, and completely stipped of any status - he appears to be sleeping on the streets while listening to the conversation of the Volscian soldiers. The tragedy of this part of the play is that you can see that Martius really tries to be humble, but too late to escape his eventual fate. Tom plays the role as being completely convinced that Aufidius will kill him, and extremely confused when he doesn’t (the kissing can’t help really) which again makes him seem very vulnerable but in a different way to the first half. I was very moved by how clearly terrified of dying Martius is but how resolutely he offers himself anyway. However when he becomes the (supposedly joint) leader, while he takes the same position as earlier in the play (sat rigidly at the back of the stage) it really seems like play acting, as Aufidius’ growing dislike is plain.
When Martius agrees to negotiate a peace, the sense is that he has truly learned not to be so rigid in his actions, not just that he is swayed by the emotion of his family. When he is moved to tears (this is probably more striking if you don’t spend half your time watching Tom in things, it’s kind of his party trick :-P) it seems more because he knows what will happen when he backs down, while his mother, even when begging him to change his mind, still thinks he will come out on top as the successful warrior. Again, it’s very moving how he accepts that he was wrong, that his mother’s entire worldview is wrong, and that it’s too late to do anything about it.
The play is very violent, as I’ve mentioned - as well as the fight scenes, Martius appears covered in very realistic blood after taking Corioles. The ending is no exception - Aufidius and his men literally string Martius up by his ankles before Aufidius stabs him to death. This was so gruesome that it actually made me feel very sick. Before this Martius moves to fight against the soldiers one more time, looking once again in his element. But he drops the sword and surrenders, in contrast to what his mother saw as a good death for him, even better that surviving unharmed.
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