The play features an all women and non-binary cast to share one of Shakespeare’s Roman tragedies with audiences

By Cameron Aalto, Ashland.news

“Coriolanus,” one of Shakespeare’s most rarely produced plays, hits the stage Tuesday, July 23, in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Thomas Theatre. 

Directed by Rosa Joshi, the play tells the story of a powerful yet starving population and a war-hero turned politician. In his attempt to be made consul, he offends the civilian plebeians and is rejected not only by the population, but also tribunes who exiled him from Rome.

The Roman tragedy is described by Joshi in an email interview as “a complex story with a complicated central character. Coriolanus is not clearly sympathetic but also not a clear villain who you can ‘love to hate.’ He’s a war hero with a deep sense of integrity on his way to the highest political office in the state — the hitch is that he has to beg for it from the common people, and he despises the common people. And he can’t hide it like the other politicians in the play do.”

When asked why people should attend the show, Joshi shares, “the production is infused with stylized movement that supports the story telling” which can be seen through “(a) mob that is a ‘hydra,’ soldiers storming a city, actors transforming before your eyes into different characters.” She describes the production as “visually dynamic and highly physical,” and adds that “the ensemble of actors who make the play are amazing — the virtuosity of their performance, I think, will captivate an audience.”

Joshi explains that the depth of Coriolanus’ character is one of the reasons that she decided to direct the play: “at the same time, Coriolanus is a fascinating character who has real vulnerability, humanity and depth — and that is what really draws me to this play. There’s no easy answers and I find that absolutely entrancing.”

Originally approached to direct the show by Portland Center Stage, Joshi writes that the small cast size and themes of leadership applicable to contemporary circumstances were additional motivations: “I was approached to do this play initially by Portland Center Stage as a workshop exploring if we could do it with a small cast. That was exciting as it invited a level of theatricality that is compelling to me. And I’m always interested in plays that examine the nature of leadership. I think in a democracy it is always essential for us to explore what we want in our leaders. It’s what keeps (Shakespeare’s) history plays alive and relevant to me as a contemporary American citizen.”

The plays official description states that its “themes of ambition and delicate democracy … will particularly resonate during an election year.” When asked about the parallels that viewers might see, Joshi explains, “I’m always thinking about how a classic play that is centuries old will connect with a contemporary audience. I think the politics of ‘Coriolanus’ will resonate with (the) audience. While Coriolanus is definitely the central character, this is also the story about a down-trodden populace manipulated by ambitious, duplicitous politicians who are in turn threatened by a revered but unpredictable war hero. The politicians in the play don’t love the people, but they know how to hide their disdain in order to stay in power.”

She states that “the circumstances (of the play) and the political dynamics are definitely familiar” and that “(u)ltimately it’s a story for me about the fragility of democracy itself. Does democracy work? And this felt like an approach that would speak to who we are in the world today.”

In a unique approach, “Coriolanus” will feature a full cast of women and non-binary actors. The production, presented by OSF and Portland Center Stage, is also partnering with Upstart Crow Collective.

Upstart Crow Collective reimagines classical plays by “producing racially diverse casts of women and non-binary people.”

Joshi states that “the choice of cast is very intentional. It comes from a desire to create more opportunities for women and non-binary people in the Western classical canon and also to examine how we experience these stories when these actors occupy the stage. We don’t change the gender of the characters on stage, we focus on playing the truth of character and on telling the story. And then when you do this, things that we ‘take for granted’ get thrown up into the air and we start to question the ‘norms’ of gendered behavior.”

In addition to this, Joshi says that the opportunity of an all-woman and non-binary cast provides the opportunity “… to see incredible actors take on roles they don’t normally have access to playing. And it opens up who can tell these stories. It allows young women and non-binary people to imagine themselves in these classic plays in new ways. And it (allows) all of us to experience how truly expansive Shakespeare can be — how the plays can hold all of humanity inside them.”

The eight-person cast of Coriolanus “telling this epic story we get to engage with (is) a kind of theatricality that I love,” said Joshi. Some actors will play both characters with power and characters without, “senators turn into citizens on stage on a dime,” she says. Because of this, Joshi explains that viewers can see each character’s humanity: “when you have the people in power played by the same actors as the common people, (…) a certain shared humanity comes through. The oppressors literally become the oppressed right before your eyes. It’s the kind of storytelling that I find thrilling and that can only happen in the theater — where an audience leans in and actively engages their imagination to create the world.” 

“Coriolanus” is scheduled to run from July 23 to Oct. 13 with preface events offered by OSF at Carpenter Hall.    

To order a ticket, click here.

Ashland.news intern Cameron Aalto is a recent graduate of Southern Oregon University. Email him at aaltoc@sou.edu.