The cast is gathered and the first act of Coriolanus is now ready.
Now the stage is being built.
There is a message for the voice actors below, but first I’d like to address all of my readers.
I want to address why this play is especially relevant today by going through a scene I cut. Well, several scenes. And it has nothing to do with the quality of the play but specifically how that adaption can exist in audio form.
I heavily cut the battle scene in this Act.
In these scenes, Martius, the Roman warrior-hero is informed that the enemy is building an army outside of Rome. This kicks off the following events:
Martius and Cominius, another Roman General, move their army just outside the gates of Corioles, controlled by the enemy “Volsces.”
Martius and a Volscian Senator start a parley.
During the parley, the Volscians attack Martius’ forces (who are parked outside their city gate).
The enemy pushes back Rome but due to the heroic nature of Martius, the enemy city of Corioles falls to Rome.
Martius then meets up with Cominius, and defeats the Volscians again on the battlefield.
But what was the transgression here that initiated the war? It was the presence of an army. The play indicates that these two forces have met before, but in this instance, the enemy did not attack Rome. In response to intelligence from spies, Rome brings its army outside the enemy city, then it is attacked in surprise, and then it defeats the enemy completely — including no doubt, many civilian casualties in the taking of the city.
It took me several readings and watchings to understand this sequence. Martius is so eager to return to war, he brings his force outside the enemy city, so that he can attack in “self-defense.” As was once the United States’ military policy, this is: Defense Forward.
Is this not how modern wars are started today?
Russia invades Ukraine claiming, whether you believe them or not, that NATO expansion eastward and placement of missile batteries closer to its borders is a credible threat. For this, and other reasons, they invade Ukraine.
The United States military travelled around the world, parked its Navy outside of Iran, and initiated a massive bombing campaign, possible exhausting critical supplies of missiles, because Iran was “two weeks away” from developing a nuclear weapon.
Shakespeare wrote Coriolanus from the Roman myth of the warrior of the same name. These Volscian-Roman wars occurred around 480 BC or so. How much has changed?
One side develops an army because it claims it needs to protect itself from an aggressor. Another side sees the buildup as proof of hostile intent and attacks. Now they are both proven correct.
Comparisons to the United States are falling of the Roman Empire will continue until true perhaps. But that doesn’t stop them from being interesting as Justin Patrick Moore shares:
In any case, this progression is cut from the play. Obviously, I could have explained it in exposition, but I tried, and it became too much like this essay. Instead, several adaptions, including ours now, focus on the character traits. This is ultimately the best decision for the play, but it does loose this tidbit.
But, as I said before, it took me several readings to appreciate the exact sequence of events. The framing in the play that Rome provokes an attack, in this specific instance despite a history of conflict between these two groups, is very subtle.
Trust and faith in group of humans is extremely difficult. We struggle at a personal level, in our families and marriages with this, how can we do it as nations? Coriolanus shows us both sides of this. In nation-state warfare and in family life. Everything ends in tragedy.
Voice Actors
Give me a day or two to build up the submission site! If you wish you can start recording the lines and asking questions. The line numbers are there per scene so the line 1.2.4 is Act 1, Scene 2, Line 4: “Is it not yours?”
If you are unsure how to proceed, once I get the site up, you can send me a sample and I kind give you some notes. I left some direction but pretty loose. If you prefer I can fill it more, but it’s quite a bit and it feels a bit micro-manage-y to me.
I’m hoping we can get to the point where voice actors can turn these around in one week. I have already started to prep Act II. This first one, we all might need some extra time and that’s understandable.
Once I have the voices, I will begin to edit it all into the final cut. I will then schedule a live “listen-party” and we can all celebrate together the success of this amazing team!
For the voice actors, I’ll contact you privately with the site and instructions to submit the audio. For the following acts, I’ll link the site in the post — I just haven’t built it yet.
Let’s go!!!!
Oooooh! Excitamundo!!!
Looks awesome, excited to hear it!