SOURCE: Brantley, Ben. “Uneasy Leaders Whose Downfall Lay Within Themselves.” New York Times (11 September 2000): E1, E5.

In the following review, Brantley evaluates the New York staging of Jonathan Kent's production of Coriolanus, starring Ralph Fiennes. Brantley observes that Fiennes's performance was accomplished but lacked depth, and that the production as a whole was engaging but failed to offer a deep investigation of the play's issues.

If anyone could elevate petulance to the status of tragic flaw, Ralph Fiennes would seem to be the man. Throughout his fertile career in movies as the bluestocking's hearthrob, he has consistently found the combustibility in being sullen, taciturn and socially ill at ease. Think of those unhappy adulterers he played in “The English Patient” and “The End of the Affair,” in which he struck erotic sparks just by peevishly knitting his brow.

So the idea of casting Mr. Fiennes in the title...