Olivier, National Theatre
A wide range of opinions greeted the new production of Coriolanus on the large Olivier stage at the National Theatre. There was a five star review in Time Out and two stars from The Times. David Oyewolo was widely welcomed back after a long absence from the English stage. There were mixed feelings about Lyndsey Turner’s production. Some thought the way she concentrated on Coriolanus as a soldier out of step with Rome’s patricians and plebeians was an exciting interpretation, others found it lacking drive. That feeling extended to Es Devlin’s monumental set, which for some captured Rome’s power and for others dominated too much.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Time Out’s Andrjez Lukowski (5★) thought it was ‘tremendous’. He said, ‘it’s supercharged by an outstanding central performance that deftly walks the line between sympathetic and repellant.’
The Standard’s Nick Curtis (4★) praised ‘Oyelowo’s relentless, driving conviction…His naturally benign face seems to harden and warp as Coriolanus’s arrogance consumes him. He speaks Shakespeare’s verse with rare fluency. He’s also a convincing combatant in excellent fight scenes.’
For Claire Allfree in the Telegraph (4★), ‘LyndseyTurner’s vaulting revival…thrillingly aligns the play’s tricky contours with a modern, ill-at-ease Britain.’ She talked of ‘Devlin’s formidable concrete set design’ and of Oyelowo’s ‘alert, sensitive performance reveals a man both tormented and infuriated by his increasing alienation from a world he doesn’t understand.’
Alexander Cohen at BroadwayWorld (4★) liked the production’s approach: ‘confluences of history weave together through myth and tear apart time: a tyrant in a toga is no different to one in a suit and tie.’ He was wowed by the way it looked: ‘Es Devlin’s set is dazzlingly labyrinthine, brutalist concrete blocks cascade from the rafters shattering the boundaries of performance.’ He loved the star: ‘David Oyelowo plays the eponymous anti-hero with viper fangs hissing venom in all directions’. He did have one criticism: ‘It’s a shame that the rest of the supporting cast feel sidelined…. Without their weight to counterbalance him, the production just struggles to maintain its blockbuster propulsion to the bitter end.’
Sarah Hemming in The Financial Times (4★) referred to ‘Lyndsey Turner’s mighty production…led by a terrific, deeply troubled David Oyelowo, which fuses past and present, public space and playing space, to brilliantly eloquent effect.’ Fiona Mountford at the i (4★) was impressed by Oyelowo’s ‘towering performance of coiled intensity, as well as notable verbal dexterity.’. She noted: ‘Productions of this play are usually very certain about where right and wrong lies, but Turner thrillingly throws all that into doubt. She makes us interrogate the motives of the rabble-rousing tribunes’.
Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage (3★) was impressed by ‘a thrilling central performance by David Oyelowo’, but thought it was ‘weighted down by a set by Es Devlin that makes every scene look sensational, but also like a spread in The World of Interiors’ not to met ‘a score by Angus MacRae that loads each moment with ever louder significance.’ She found, ‘Lyndsey Turner’s direction is claustrophobic and tightly controlled, when sometimes the emotions of the play seem to cry out for breathing space.’ She concluded, ‘it’s a slick production rather than an involving one.’
The Observer’s Susannah Clapp (3★) thought, ‘Turner’s production is monumental rather than fully articulated or driving…The set pieces are tremendous but they lack an internal central motor.’ As for the star: ‘.David Oyelowo is forceful but uninflected; as unvarying as a bullet.’The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (3★) said the drama ‘is woodenly underpowered and never evokes quite enough feeling’.
‘The crowds rule in what is arguably Shakespeare’s most complex political tragedy,’ said Anya Ryan at LondonTheatre (3★). ‘In Lyndsey Turner’s production…they arrive, angry and holding placards, as if fresh from the scenes of a modern day protest…It is their presence that carries Turner’s vision and brings Shakespeare’s tragedy wholeheartedly up to date.’
For Helen Hawkins at TheArtsDesk (3★) ‘this is a super-dynamic production that hardly pauses for breath’. Saying it is ‘minus a key item: a hero whose end is tragic’, she observed: ‘We are watching a lucid examination of a process working itself out, not a dense study of a flawed nobleman in extremis.’ Dominic Maxwell in The Sunday Times (3★) was unmoved, calling it ‘ingenious, diverting and tension-free.’
The Times’ Clive Davis (2★) found much to criticise: ‘there’s no fire at the heart of this production.’ He declared: ‘Part of the problem with Lyndsey Turner’s curiously flat production is that you spend a lot more time casting an eye over the levitating grey slabs of Es Devlin’s characteristically chic set design than admiring the stiff-necked grandeur of Oyelowo’s doomed warrior.’ He had a problem with the latter too: ‘this soft-spoken general has the quietly exasperated manner of a middle manager overwhelmed by a late-night pile of spreadsheets.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.6★
Value rating 48 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Coriolanus can be seen at the National Theatre until 9 November 2024. Buy tickets directly from the theatre with this link.
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