James Finley and Saron Araia in “Coriolanus” by Avant Bard and Longacre Lea. Photo by Kathleen Akerley.
If society treats soldiers as machines and war as a game, should it be a surprise when those soldiers lose their humanity? That is the question at the core of the startlingly original production of “Coriolanus” currently being staged by Avant Bard and Longacre Lea, two veteran regional theatre companies working together to achieve this thought-provoking vision.
…startlingly original production…thought-provoking vision…deeply moving and incredibly entertaining…
“Coriolanus,” one of William Shakespeare’s last tragedies, is a fictionalization of the story of Caius Marcius, a Roman general of the fifth century B.C.E. who was awarded the honorific name Coriolanus after defeating the Volscians at Corioli. Back in Rome, the same traits that made him so effective on the battlefield—brusqueness, arrogance, and single-minded savagery—work against him. He is banished from his native city and offers himself to the Volscians as a war leader in order to wreak destructive revenge.
In director Séamus Miller’s adaptation, Coriolanus is literally a player in a game, a “Street Fighter”–inspired video game, drowning in violence. Handled poorly, this conceit could have turned “Coriolanus” into a hysterical jeremiad against gaming and gamers akin to what followed the Columbine massacre. But Miller’s sensitivity with the subject matter and the top-notch production team make this “Coriolanus” haunting and essential.
Coriolanus himself is trapped, metaphorically and visually, throughout most of the show. James Finley merits praise, not just for a gut-wrenching performance but also for sheer endurance. Before the show begins, he is at center stage in a console game fighter’s stance. Entering audience members are invited to use a controller and screen to make him crouch, parry, and attack, and he remains in the game even during intermission. He cannot leave his action space, butting up against an invisible barrier like an avatar trying to go off-screen whenever he tries.
The gaming motif is captured by two large video screens at the edges of both sides of the playing space, with graphics and NES-style text displays setting the tone. Original composition and sound by Tom Carman, lighting by Solomon HaileSelassie, and video design by Miller are in perfect synch to make this presentation uncannily real.
Of course, a fight game needs fighting, and the fight choreography by Bess Kaye and Gil Mitchell matches up perfectly with the bloody games they mean to invoke. Saron Araia, as Volscian leader Aufidius, is Coriolanus’s chief foe and later his partner in these battles, which will look familiar to any gamer.
This “Coriolanus” wins many points on style, but that does not mean it skimps on substance. Miller and Finley create an antihero who is the victim of his upbringing and the expectations placed upon him, and Finley wears the character’s trauma like a battle scar. Particularly effective among the cast is Kimberly Gilbert as Coriolanus’s mother, Volumnia. There is arguably no actor in the region better at embodying the extremes of emotion than Gilbert, a standard she lives up to here.
The Avant Bard/Longacre Lea production of “Coriolanus” manages to be both deeply moving and incredibly entertaining, and leaves the audience wondering just where the game ends and the player begins.
Running Time: Two hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.
Advisory: Employs the use of strobe, blood, and simulated violence effects. There will also be facsimile weapons on stage.
“Coriolanus” runs through March 23, 2024, presented by Avant Bard and Longacre Lea at Gunston Arts Center Theatre 2, 2700 S. Lang Street, Arlington, VA 22206. For more information and to purchase tickets, go online.
