Coriolanus: ‘What is the City but the People?’

Episode 230: Shakespeare probably did not realise it, but his next offering would be his last tragedy and his last Roman play, but for this one he reached back into a much earlier Rome than the world of Caesar, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra that he had previously mined. ‘Coriolanus’, the choice of the story of the legendary Caius Martius, a 5th century BC Roman general who was both fated and vilified during his political career and who was also known for his antipathy towards a hungry Roman population, might have been inspired by recent events in England. We can’t be certain of that, but whatever the case there it is quite clearly one of Shakespeare’s most political tragedies which has become a play that perhaps more than any other in the cannon has been used to make political points, particularly when we consider productions in the last century. The dating of the play The play at the Blackfriars Theatre and in the First Folio The sources for the play A summary of the plot Coriolanus as a political play, but not representative of his own views The question of how power should be granted The character of Coriolanus The use of language as an expression of character The character and speech of Menenius The character and speech of Volumina The pivotal moment of silence in the play The performance history of the play A final word on the play from Willian Hazlitt Support the podcast at: www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.com www.patreon.com/thoetp www.ko-fi.com/thoetp You can find an advertisement free version of the latest podcast episodes by joining on Patreon at the lowest paid tier level – that’s for just £1 per month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.