When the next two met in Anitum in 4.5, Thacker took the opportunity to play-up the erotic elements of Aufidius� protracted welcome. Coriolanus announced himself by casting away his cloak, revealing a naked upper body. Aufidius� reaction was one of a man at first awe-struck, half circling his great adversary in wonderment during his first few lines. But on �Let me twine my arms about thy body�, Aufidius leapt into a passionate embrace that was held for a full seventeen seconds in complete silence. Bruce Smith�s interpretation of the above was that, �in this production homoerotic attraction was all on Aufidius� side: Coriolanus bore Aufidius� embraces with stiff unease� . Indeed Coriolanus� only reaction was to freeze, arms rigid and uncertain, but the closing of his eyes and his willingness to be held suggested at least a moment of complicity . Aufidius was allowed to gently caress Coriolanus� back on �thou noble thing�, and when Aufidius finally leads Coriolanus into his banquet, he again took the initiative by jumping into a second embrace and ruffling Coriolanus� hair. When Aufidius spoke of dreaming about them together, the register was one of intimate confession rather than manly banter, to which Stephens� youthful Coriolanus, all �un-defined masculinity� , was uncertain about.
Once Coriolanus takes the lead in leading the Volsces to Rome, Aufidius� jealousy at being second-best re-emerges. In 4.7, he recounted Coriolanus� demeaning of him with the forlorn bitterness of a spurned lover. Though Lynch created a character that was all contained passion, the cutting inflections in his voice, especially pronounced on �I did embrace him� (4.7.10), signified the swelling feelings of betrayal within. As Peter Holland notes, �in Thacker�s production it is the achievement of the embrace, the transformation of military rivalry into co-leadership that proves Aufidius� crucial misjudgement, love clouding his acuity, leaving him vulnerable to Coriolanus� charisma� . It was in this scene that Aufidius� conviction revenge was necessarily crystallised, subsequently explaining his intentional retreat into the shadows during Volumnia�s entreaty to her son in 5.4. Having accepted his status as a man �cast-off�, Thacker subtly hinted how Aufidius sought to bide his time by standing in the background. Rather than emphasising his presence, and so possibly remind Coriolanus of his responsibilities to the Volsces, Aufidius� conscious taking of a �back-seat� showed how he was willing to let his compatriot hang himself through capitulation.
Thacker�s reading of the final scene was the most revelatory aspect of his production. Firstly, through the casting of the twenty-four year-old Stephens, Aufidius� taunt of �boy� took on an even stronger resonance: it was a real threat for someone �still unsure of his adulthood, comfortable in his arrogant posing but reluctant to reveal a body that was not only scarred but also showed a physical vulnerability� . Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, in the murder of Coriolanus himself Thacker re-evoked the complicit, ceremonial nature of the two soldier�s relationship first depiceted in the protracted fight at Corioli. On �Tear me to piece�s Volsces�, Coriolanus stood centre stage with his arms outstretched. Looking back over his shoulder at a static Aufidius, he gestured with his right hand for the final blow, a request that Aufidius, after a beat, answered. Playing on the reading that Coriolanus� knows his death is almost inevitable, the act itself was turned into ritualistic suicide. This reading suggested that as an exemplar of a warrior culture, a man who would rather �be their servant in my way / Than sway with them in theirs� (2.1.196-7), Coriolanus should consciously attempt to frame his death as a symbolic suicide, one founded on his own hyper-masculine notions of virtue. Thus, in his own limited way Stephens� Coriolanus found a tenuous and tragic way of becoming �author of himself�, though paradoxically by depending on Aufidius� willing complicity in the act . Both men know he is going to die, and Lynch�s Aufidius arguably allowed him to do so on his own terms. The tragedy of this sequence, and Aufidius� role in it, was accentuated in the final moments. The death march was cut, leaving Aufidius attempted to raise Coriolanus� prone body only to fall backwards. Asking his fellow Volsces to assist, the response was a mass exodus. The two men were left together lit by a single spot-light, and the emotional bond between them was highlighted by Aufidius� tender cradling of the corpse. Placing his head against Coriolanus�, the final image reminded the audience again that the bond existing between the two men was an emotional, and in Thacker�s eyes, a homoerotic one.
In comparison, Terry Hands� 1989 RST interpretation of the two men�s relationship was played with a predominantly straight bat . Charles Dance�s Coriolanus made every attempt to cut a figure of the �Herculean hero�, striding purposely around Rome with a rigidly upright, aristocratic posture. Like Stephens he would only stop to assume a pose, usually one of disdain. In contrast, Hands� Aufidius (a shaven-headed Malcolm Storry clad all in red) was a nervous bundle of energy, constantly striving to re-assert his own masculine worth. In this respect he differed strongly from the character�s portrayal in Thacker: there Aufidius was all internalised brooding, while Storry wore his emotions on his sleeve.
