It\u2019s a bittersweet time when the \u201cExtreme Shakespeare\u201d production rolls around at the PA Shakespeare Festival.<\/p>\n
With \u201cExtreme Shakespeare,\u201d you experience an often little-known work by William Shakespeare even as the PSF Summer Theatre Series is winding down.<\/p>\n
For PSF\u2019s 35th season, \u201cCoriolanus\u201d continues through Aug. 2, Schubert Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n
The opening night July 24 performance was seen for this review.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoriolanus\u201d is the 33rd of 38 plays by Shakespeare to be presented at PSF.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an opportunity to check off another box on your \u201cBard Bucket List\u201d of Shakespeare plays to see.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also an opportunity to see Shakespearean actors at the height of their powers.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s as if the actors are performing as high-wire acrobats without a net. The net being director, stage set, costume designer, all of which are eschewed in an \u201cExtreme Shakespeare\u201d production. The actors are pretty much on their own. That suits them fine They own the stage.<\/p>\n
In PSF\u2019s \u201cExtreme Shakespeare,\u201d a play is presented as it is believed Shakespeare\u2019s company would have. Actors arrive with lines learned, rehearse without a director, choose attire from the costume shop and stage the show.<\/p>\n
Geoffrey Kent (Coriolanus) gives a towering performance as a battlefield-hardened soldier who trips over his own hubris, setting up political intrigue that spirals out of control. When in Rome, indeed.<\/p>\n
The plot sounds peculiarly contemporary. This is why we like Shakespeare so much. His characters, plots and take-aways are still relevant. Shakespeare is believed to have written \u201cCoriolanus\u201d between 1605 and 1608.<\/p>\n
Kent brings enormous humanity to the role. Shakespeare\u2019s words ring out wonderfully in his resounding voice.<\/p>\n
As for his Coriolanus, the portrayal by Kent is blissfully sympathetic. You wish you, or someone, could whisper in his ear to set his ship of state on the right course.<\/p>\n
Alas, it doesn\u2019t happen. Thus, \u201cCoriolanus\u201d is one of Shakespeare\u2019s tragedy plays, one of the last two he wrote, with the other being \u201dAntony and Cleopatra.\u201d<\/p>\n
If nature abhors a vacuum, the body politic despises it. Thus, the plebeians and tribunes gather in an ever-tightening circle around Coriolanus.<\/p>\n
Greg Wood (Menenius Agrippa) counsels compromise and, in what is perhaps the play\u2019s best-known speech, the body politic becomes quite literal as Wood abjures the riot of the rabble, reasoning that all must work together to live together, not unlike one\u2019s own body. Whether Shakespeare intended or not, the metaphor recalls the Apostle Paul\u2019s admonition (for example, The Bible\u2019s New Testament 1 Corinthians 12:27-31).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s sage advice and Wood imbues the words with delicacy and quiet strength, to no avail.<\/p>\n
Wood\u2019s words are only rivaled by those of Susan Riley Stevens (Volumnia), who, portraying Coriolanus\u2019 mother, has some advice of her own that he probably should not have heeded. Riley Stevens is breathtaking in the role.<\/p>\n
Hovering on the edge of avarice are the tribunes Sicinius Velutus (Sarah Gliko) and Junius Brutus (John Hedges). They literally keep to a corner of the stage. Each swears dark oaths to upset the popular vote that Menenius was urging. Gliko speaks the language roundly and with force. Hedges\u2019 is a more conspiratorial tone, convincingly spitting out the words.<\/p>\n
Waiting In the wings all along for the opportune moment has been Tullus Aufidius (David Pica). Pica strides the stage as a stalking lion, self-assured, giving no quarter until he is ready to pounce. And pounce he does<\/p>\n
Geoffrey Kent is Fight Choreography for the production and his scenes with David Pica are so convincing as to be wince-inducing. You may find yourself hiding behind your own hands and looking away. You will look anyway, so convincing is the fighting.<\/p>\n
The Script Adaptation is by Greg Wood.<\/p>\n
PSF\u2019s \u201cCoriolanus\u201d has lots of action. It is constantly in motion. The plebeians protest en masse, their signs for more grain thrust aloft as if wooden swords. Soldiers charge forth to battle, then storm off.<\/p>\n
The production has a sound and fury all its own, heralded throughout by drum and cymbals, symbolizing the clashing of personalities and power that powers \u201cCoriolanus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now imagine all this on a bare stage in the three-quarter-round Schubert Theatre. The actors of PSF\u2019s \u201cCoriolanus\u201d conjure all this, and more.<\/p>\n
Notable in supporting roles are Akeem Davis (Cominus), Mark Thomas McKenna (Nicanor, Senator, Conspirator), Elliot Jones (Young Martius) and in the Ensemble: Katrina Clark, Michael Covel, Ian Higgins, Mariana Marcel, Joanna Marie, Isabella Marin, Christian Tuffy, Sophia Twohig and Alice Zelenko.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtreme Shakespeare\u201d is a gift to the Shakespeare buff or any dedicated theater-goer.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrush Up Your Shakespeare,\u201d to quote the Cole Porters tune from \u201cKiss Me Kate,\u201d and see \u201cCoriolanus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCoriolanus,\u201d 7:30 p.m. July 22, 23, 24, 30, 31; 2 p.m., 7:30 p.m. July 25, 29; 2 p.m. July 26, Aug. 1, 2; 6:30 p.m. July 28. Meet the actors for an informal talk-back after the July 30 performance. \u201cEpilogues,\u201d a free discussion and behind-the-scenes look at the production, 10 a.m. Aug. 1, allows audience members to gain insight and ask questions. PA Shakespeare Festival, Schubert Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. 610-282-9455, https:\/\/pashakespeare.org\/<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY ANDREA KNAPPLeft to right: Geoffrey Kent (Coriolanus), David Pica (Tullus Aufidius), \u201cCoriolanus,\u201d PA Shakespeare Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a bittersweet time when the \u201cExtreme Shakespeare\u201d production rolls around at the PA Shakespeare Festival. With \u201cExtreme…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-255816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}