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With plebeians taking selfies, iPhone videos of Roman general Caius Martius ranting, and a drunk singing Beyonce's "Daddy Lessons" as he stumbles through ancient Antium, Portland Actors Ensemble's outdoor production of Coriolanus draws winking comparisons between Shakespeare's military drama and present-day politics.
The Ensemble's pop-culture additions jerk audiences away from the 17th-century world of the play. Even without these nudges, though, it's hard to ignore the resemblance to present day: a commander who can't drum up support from the common people, a rash populace that makes shortsighted choices in the wake of a famine. Even the tenuous peace between Rome and its former rival looks uncomfortably familiar.
The tight, two-hour production was beautifully acted, with particularly stellar performances by Ken Yoshikawa as Aufidious and Allison Anderson as Volumnia, but technical issues held it back. Strange acoustics in the Pettygrove Park courtyard, which is located in a noisy pocket of downtown, made much of the dialog inaudible. Any time an actor wasn't facing the audience and half-yelling, it was impossible to hear. It is a testament to Anderson's dynamism and Yoshikawa's booming voice that the production never felt longer than it was.
See it: Coriolanus is at Pettygrove Park, Southwest 2nd Avenue and Harrison Street., 7 pm Thursday-Saturday, through July 31. July 8 performance held at Marylhurst University. Free.
Ralph Fiennes played Martius in a Coriolanus that was not in a park:
Willamette Week