Aufidius� subsequent embarrassment typified his burgeoning physicality. While Lynch had brooded centre-stage in 1.10, Storry paced the stage with increasing frustration before falling to his knees arms outstretched and screaming �He�s mine or I am his� (1.10.12). Creating an icon of wounded masculine pride, Hands seemed to underline his reading in such moments: his Aufidius and Coriolanus use each other solely as forms of comparison, as John Gross observed, to judge �who stands higher on the ladder of male superiority� . The difference lay in that while Aufidius seemed to fit in with his surrounding Antium - all dark red light and primitive burning torches that complimented his costume - Coriolanus�s similar masculine ideology clashed with the cool whiteness and minimalist sophistication of Rome - one that we shall later see, through Barbara Jeffer�s Volumnia, as being lead by a matriarch.
Thus, when Coriolanus arrived at Aufidius� house in 4.5, it was no surprise that the host�s initial questions were delivered with lots of assertive macho aggression. Three times Aufidius bellowed �What�s thy name� with such a weight, the impression was if his inquiry was denied a third time he would break the strangers neck anyway. When Coriolanus finally removed his hood, Aufidius stood back amazed for a split-second before the two shared remarkably energetic embracing: even hugging seemed to be a competition, an opportunity to show one�s �strength� like a businessman�s handshake. Hands� cutting of the text at this point came to the fore . He cut Aufidius� lines immediately after �Let me twine my arms� (4.5.110-113), and so slightly curtailed the character�s immediate show of warmth in the meeting. Whilst Stephens and Lynch had lingered in their embrace, Storry broke from it after hardly five seconds, and the rest of the scene was played with the two men face-to-face, emphasising the thinly veiled confrontation boiling underneath the surface.
Once Coriolanus was installed in the Volscian ranks, Aufidius� bottled-up frustration - characterised by pacing and shouting - returned with a vengeance in 4.7, which seemed to be almost a straight re-enactment of 1.10�s earlier exposing of bile. Feeling the full weight of Coriolanus� usurpation of his authority, Storry�s Aufidius only gradually managed to contain his anger in a conscious attempt at self-control. And so, after Coriolanus� capitulation to Volumnia in 5.3, it was important to acknowledge Aufidius� line �I was moved withal� (5.3.195) was delivered with a barely concealed relish by Storry. This moment demonstrated a chink in Coriolanus� armour, and one could palpably feel Aufidius� glee in seeing his rival being emasculated. As the family left the stage, Aufidius remained happily tapping a dagger in the palm of his hand, already predicting with keen anticipation Coriolanus� downfall.
In the final scene, Hands also created a sense of ritual as Thacker, but it was a very different one. Again, Aufidius� lines were heavily edited so that his accusations could be more easily delivered as pumped-up outbursts. Removing his swift aside to the Volscian lords (5.6.117-9), instead Aufidius circled the stage inciting a mass of Volsce mothers against Coriolanus. By making almost all the Volsce people present women, Hands gave added poignancy to lines such as �He killed my son � My daughter � My cousin Marcus�: these women, like Virgilia in Rome, had been left at home only to mourn the slaughter of loved ones. As the mob descended on Coriolanus and he became distracted in trying to throw them off, Aufidius approached from behind him and stabbed him in the back. This image, striking in its brutality, also attempted to replay the earlier scene between Coriolanus and Volumnia, where the latter had ultimately proven victorious. The suggestion (as I will elaborate on later) was that Aufidus� murder was in someway synonymous with Volumnia�s entreaty to Coriolanus: both were brutal and fatal betrayals, rendering Coriolanus little more than a sacrifice. As Peter Holland noted of Hands� finale,
Such an ending built on the play�s strong presence of women in Roman politics, dominated by Volumnia, and allowed for the action to be seen in relation to both genders of the city. The Volscian women who bayed for Coriolanus� death, shouting their losses and finding revenge the only consequence, were offered as relatives of a Volumnia whose diet of anger had transferred to them .
This is not to say that Storry�s Aufidius ended in a state of bacchanal blood-lust however. Standing astride Coriolanus� corpse, he seemed both a man at his peak and yet emptied out. The realisation that he had lost his sparring-partner, the one man eminent enough to compare himself with, ultimately drained his triumph. The subsequent death march was conducted in absolute silence, the mob dispersed, with Aufidius leading the way.
II: Volumnia and Coriolanus
�Is there no way for men to be / But women must be half-workers?�
- Posthumous, Cymbeline
Coriolanus: My mother, you wot well
My hazards have still been your solace.
(4.1.27-28)
Thacker�s production also provided a carefully measured reading of the relationship between Coriolanus and his mother Volumnia (Claire Blakiston), most especially the transformation of their relationship in the second half of the play. From her first scene with Virgilia in 1.3, Blakiston revelled in her role in the shaping of her son into a soldier. While Virgilia remained seated centre stage throughout, ambivalent to her husband�s presence on the battlefield, Volumnia literally dominated the stage space, constantly circling.
