Coriolanus

Product Description

'You common cry of curs, whose breath I hate As reek o'th'rotten fens, whose loves I prize As the dead carcasses of unburied men That do corrupt my air - I banish you'

Coriolanus, a famed warrior turned politician, is driven from Rome as a traitor when he arrogantly speaks out against popular rule and loses the good will of the starving people. Banished and embittered, he allies himself with his former enemies and begins to plot a merciless revenge on Rome. Shakespeare's politically ambiguous late tragedy of a great soldier who fails to be a great leader questions the notion of heroism and what power really means.

General Introduction on Shakespeare and the Elizabethan theatre by Stanley Wells
Edited by G. R. Hibbard with an introduction by Paul Prescott

'As long as love, power, fear and jealousy remain strong human experiences, Shakespeare's plays will be startlingly modern and relevant.' Sir Antony Sher