Coriolanus – Savoy Theatre Hamburg 10.03.2014

This was the screening at a cinema of the original London play that took place at the Donmar Warehouse for a couple of weeks. I was quite excited for it since my best friend and I decided we’d go to see it together, because it would probably be the only time I’d ever get this close to a Hollywood Actor. Sad, I know. Plus, it had Tom Hiddleston in it. Now,  I have never been a huge fan of him; I adored his acting in the “Thor” movies and, especially, in “The Avengers”, but that was about it. But after seeing that play on the screen, my opinion has definitely changed, because, hands down – he was amazing as Caius Martius Coriolanus.

And sadly…that is all I can say about it.

As some of you know, I am not a native english speaker, I’m from Germany and english is definitely not my native language. And even in german, I have difficulties to understand the language in theatre plays of Shakespeare (a lot of people have that problem, right? Please, somebody say yes so I feel less stupid.). The language used in them is so….exhausting. My best friend and I decided that therefor, it would be easier to watch the “Coriolanus” movie first, to at least get a bit of the storyline that we hadn’t already read online somewhere. Fact is, that movie was exhausting, too. Maybe I am just not a Shakespeare person, or no, I definitely am not. If I watch something, I need to understand it to enjoy it. And that movie left me even more confused than I was before, and I just hoped that the screening in my favourite language AND my favourite accent would turn things around for me.

It didn’t.

I am not scared to admit (and yes, highly am ashamed of myself, to be fair), that during the 2nd half, I slightly fell asleep during the last conversation Coriolanus (Tom Hiddleston) has with his mother (Deborah Finlay) before he wants to go to “war” with Aufidius (Hadley Fraser). Partly the problem was that the cinema seat was way too comfortable: there was a square leather stool infront of my feet and I could stretch back in my seat and I would lay back, as if I am lying in a very leathery and soft lawn chair. The other problem was, that now, listening to Shakespeare in english, and more, in british english, that it was the first time I was seriously overwhelmed with my favourite language. At the first few minutes I felt like “Alright, this is going well, I understand it better than the weird movie language.”, but soon I realized I was wrong. Shakespeare-y language all along, and I am honest: if I wouldn’t have watched the movie first, I would’ve understood jack squad. Hell, even WITH the movie, I only understood things because they sounded familiar from it (like in the scene when Coriolanus and Aufidius meet again in the 2nd half and Aufidius welcomes him like a long lost lover – hilarious). And that is pretty sad, because I would’ve loved to fully get it. I feel stupid not getting it, not understanding it. Because I feel like I couldn’t fully appreciate the actors the way they deserved.

Because the Cast was absolutely wonderful. I couldn’t stop staring at Tom, his talent, and everything about him, he was flawless. He even had these tiny moments when he was hilarious without intending to be. Hadley Fraser…I totally understand why he is so popular and why he was cast in “Les Misérables”. When I saw Alfred Enoch (Titus Lartius), I stared at him every single second (that I was not staring at Tom, of course) because he looked so familiar…until I finally realized he was Dean Thomas from the “Harry Potter” movie series. How small the world can be.
I won’t even start on Deborah Findlay (Volumnia) – she was amazing. The way she acted – wow. She was so emotional and convincing in playing the desperate mother who wants her son back on the right track after somehow having pushed him onto the wrong one before.

But my star was definitely Tom. I have barely seen someone so convincing on a theatre stage, let alone, in a movie. Every time the camera zoomed in on his face and you could see the tears watering in his beautiful eyes….you just wanted to go over and hug him, because it looked so real! And it touched me deep inside, I have to admit. He makes you forgive him for his arrogance, his reckless and brutal behaviour in the first two and a half hours in his last 10 minutes in that role. He played it out perfectly, and the way he died was certainly quite brutal – but with me not having any problem with too much blood on a stage or a screen, I was at least fine with that (even if not with Tom dying, I even had tears in my eyes, myself, soft me).

So my resumé: I am glad I did this experience, that I got to see “Coriolanus” and that I saw Tom Hiddleston after I had heard so much praise for him for that role – which he most definitely deserves. But I have come to the conclusion that I won’t put myself in the same position of watching a Shakespeare play in english again, because for me as a native german it is just too exhausting, and I would hate to miss out on such an amazing Cast and set once again because I fall asleep or simply just can’t enjoy it because I have to focus too much on understanding it. The actors deserve more acknowledgement from me, more appreciation, and I couldn’t live with myself if I couldn’t give them that.