Coriolanus

This book is a study of twenty stage productions, adaptations and screen versions of Shakespeare’s final Roman play. It makes available for the first time sustained discussions of major productions of the play in four languages and five countries, and explores how Shakespeare’s most political drama has been shaped to circumstances radically different from its original early modern staging.

The book offers in-depth analyses of Coriolanus productions covering the post-war era to the twenty-first century, combining close readings of documents and historical contextualisation to productions by the BBC, the Berliner Ensemble, The Katona József Theatre in communist Hungary, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Britain’s National Theatre, The New York Shakespeare Festival, Robert Lepage, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and Ralph Fiennes’ major motion picture.

This volume will be of interest to a wide range of readers, including specialists, graduate students and undergraduates studying both Coriolanus and the history of Shakespearean performance.

Series’ editors’ preface
Preface
Introduction: Coriolanus from the Seventeenth to the twentieth century
1. Olivier’s Coriolanus
2. Coriolanus and Brecht, 1951–71
3. Brechtian vestiges and Shakespeare-plus-relevance – the RSC’s Coriolanus 1972–73
4. Alan Howard on stage & screen
5. Shakespeare and Thatcher’s England – the 1984–85 NT Coriolanus
6. Shakespeare and Goulash Communism – Coriolanus in Budapest in 1985
7. Shakespeare meets the American public – The 1988–89 NYSF Coriolanus
8. Québécois Shakespeare goes global – Robert Lepage’s Coriolan
9. Bringing Shakespeare home or settling in comfortably? The New Globe’s 2006 Coriolanus
10. Coriolanus as failed action hero
Performance Appendix
Index