SOURCE: Holder, Heidi. Review of Coriolanus. Theatre Journal 53, no. 2 (May 2001): 344-45.

In the following review of Jonathan Kent's London production of Coriolanus, Holder remarks that the formidable setting complemented the play's themes of psychic and physical violence. Holder applauds Ralph Fiennes's portrayal of Coriolanus as subtle and emotionally deep.

Not since the nineteenth century have London theatregoers congregated in large numbers in the unfashionable East End district of Shoreditch. However, the Almeida company, in one of their more notable experiments, put Shoreditch briefly back on the theatrical map this past summer, staging two of Shakespeare's most politically complex plays, Coriolanus and Richard II, at the derelict, soon-to-be demolished Gainesborough Studios, a film studio known as the home of Hitchcock thrillers and costume melodramas.

In the case of Coriolanus, this setting was key. The stage was dominated by a looming stone wall riven by a fissure that came to...