![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1782910278_540_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cCoriolanus\u201d has never been one of Shakespeare\u2019s more popular tragedies. And for understandable reasons, it\u2019s never been a favorite of outdoor festivals either. The title character disdains the common folk, and the play\u2019s complicated political discussion and harsh, jagged poetry aren\u2019t what most picnicking playgoers are after. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to love \u201cCoriolanus,\u201d but it\u2019s equally hard not to be impressed by its ambition, originality and dramatic rigor. The Independent Shakespeare Co.\u2019s Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival production isn\u2019t going to win awards for subtlety, but the storytelling is crisp and vivid. And even those unfamiliar with the tale \u2014 the vast majority of attendees, in all likelihood \u2014 should find it engrossing.<\/p>\n
Coriolanus is a military hero of the early Roman Republic. The city-state\u2019s all-powerful defender, he is unmatched on the battlefield. But in peacetime, he\u2019s a fish out of water. He lives by a warrior code that defines nobility by bravery and sacrifice in action. He\u2019d rather silently wear his wounds earned in the line of duty than exploit them for political ends. <\/p>\n
Up in arms about the way the government has been controlling the food supply, the common folk are eager to test their newfound democratic power. Tribunals have been appointed, and Coriolanus\u2019 scornful elitism strikes them as too heavy a price for his military protection. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Patrick Batiste (Aufidius) and Brent Charles (Coriolanus) in the Indie Shakes production of \u201cCoriolanus\u201d in Griffith Park. <\/p>\n
(Grettel Cortes Photography )<\/p>\n
The Republic is thus at loggerheads with itself. And Coriolanus, raised to destroy Rome\u2019s enemies by a mother who would rather her son be a dead hero than a bon vivant, is caught in the middle of the only war he has no interest in fighting and isn\u2019t favored to win. <\/p>\n
Indie Shakes managing director David Melville distills his production around scenes of intense conflict. The characters are all in a continual state of collision, their shifting conflicts inflamed by Coriolanus\u2019 arrogantly uncompromising nature. <\/p>\n
At the center of it all is Brent Charles\u2019 sinewy Caius Martius Coriolanus, who runs through the play like a human scythe. Wearing a toga over an often bloodied tank top, Charles\u2019 Coriolanus infuses the classical with a jolt of the modern, particularly in his confrontations with Patrick Batiste\u2019s Tullus Aufidius, the Volscian general who is both Coriolanus\u2019 most formidable enemy and mirror image. Together, amid recorded bursts of electric guitar, they kinetically update these rival combatants. <\/p>\n
As Coriolanus\u2019 iron-fisted mother, Volumnia, artistic director and Indie Shakes co-founder Melissa Chalsma doesn\u2019t so much speak as roar. Her Volumnia bellows at her meek daughter-in-law, Virgilia (Justine Faith) as though reprimanding an incompetent private. Chalsma\u2019s unstinting vociferousness, which sometimes seems over the top, leaves little doubt as to who shaped Coriolanus\u2019 martial character. <\/p>\n
As the tribunes, Bernardo De Paula\u2019s Brutus and Daniel DeYoung\u2019s Sicinius scheme and rabble-rouse with manipulative glee. The plebeians have plenty to be furious about, but their representatives, skilled at turning a crowd into a mob, seem hellbent on shoring up their own influence. <\/p>\n
The audience at the reviewed performance kept wanting to applaud one side or another. But Shakespeare, who was as wary of rebellion as he was of tyranny, saw the flaws in every faction of society. <\/p>\n
It becomes clear why Lorenzo Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s agreeable Menenius, the Roman senator who has been like a father to Coriolanus, hasn\u2019t been able to mold his charge\u2019s mind as effectively as Volumnia. Always seeking the safety of middle ground, he\u2019s too willing to bend to necessity to satisfy Coriolanus\u2019 narrow militaristic idealism. <\/p>\n
The body politic wages war against itself in Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy, and the all-out battle makes for a gripping spectacle in Griffith Park. Even a swooping hawk couldn\u2019t resist perching on a tree overlooking the makeshift stage. This avian bystander may have recognized a fellow bird of prey in Coriolanus, whose role in the Roman ecosystem is necessary yet not fit for all purposes in a young democracy beset with growing pains. <\/p>\n
\u2018Coriolanus\u2019<\/p>\n
Where: Independent Shakespeare Company at the Old Zoo in Griffith Park, 4801 Griffith Park Drive, Los Angeles<\/p>\n
When: 7 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays. (No performance July 4.) Ends July 26.<\/p>\n
Tickets: Free, but registration is requested www.IndieShakes.org<\/p>\n
Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes (including one intermission)<\/p>\n
Contact: (818) 710-6306 or www.IndieShakes.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cCoriolanus\u201d has never been one of Shakespeare\u2019s more popular tragedies. And for understandable reasons, it\u2019s never been a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[154376,6193,154374,107134,6524,30378,154377,48,52,51,47,50,49,58299,6316,3238,15060,20888,154378,154375,14920],"class_list":["post-382051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-brent-charles","tag-character","tag-coriolanus","tag-enemy","tag-griffith-park","tag-indie","tag-intense-conflict","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-middle","tag-mother","tag-play","tag-review","tag-shakespeare","tag-sicinius-scheme","tag-volumnia","tag-warrior"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}