On to the Capitol! When this sentence falls in the “Theater Much Ado About Nothing”, in this very pointed interpretation of Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus”, then of course one does not have the Capitol Hill in ancient Rome in mind. Then you see yourself again, stunned, sitting in front of the television on January 6, 2021, when Donald Trump’s fan base stormed the Capitol in Washington. A manipulated pack, a mob, the rabble. Latin plebs, genitive plebis. Margrit Carls, the wonderful doyenne of the Pasinger traditional stage, delivers in her text version right at the beginning a large selection of unflattering titles for the decisive actor in this political show: the people. Each one seems deserved. And doesn’t every nation have the government it deserves? Who said that again? No, not Shakespeare, not even Donald Trump.
In any case, General Gaius Martius aka “Coriolan” (Denis Fink) – by the way one of Shakespeare’s least sympathetic heroes, and that’s saying something, after all there is Macbeth – despises the plebeians from the bottom of his heart. And this hubris burli doesn’t have the slightest desire to hide it. Which is stupid if you want to become a consul, and which the people’s tribunes (Margrit Carls and Evelyn Plank), as professional populists, happily take advantage of. Actually, they are supposed to enforce the rights of the plebs against the patricians. Check & balances in the early Roman Republic (around 500 BC) But alas, it is a sobering, highly topical picture that Shakespeare paints here of the possibility of a democratic state façon.
In Andreas Seyferth’s production of Coriolan, the theater tripped back and forth between tragedy and comedy. The tap shoes that Margrit Carls and Evelyn Plank wear on their feet go well with this. The two are to die for; They deliver hilarious, razor-sharp dialogues as tribunes of the people, servants and above all as clowns of the emcee, with rapid hat changes. Reminiscent of Erika Mann and Giehse in the “Pfeffermühle”. And often press the skip button. An original Shakespeare would take significantly longer. Coriolan compact. Absolutely worth seeing!
Coriolanus, performances until March 4th, “Theater Much Ado About Nothing”, Pasinger Fabrik, tickets www.theaterviellaermumnichts.de