★★★☆☆ What expectation Shakespeare must have created in 1607, writing Coriolanus on the tail of King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra in the previous year! Sadly, set against that sublime benchmark the play disappoints with a narrower and less poetic focus and limited character development.

★★★★☆ The plot in its essentials is of Aeneas the human son of the god Venus, a warrior refugee from the Greek destruction of Troy, intent upon forming a Trojan settlement in Italy: thus fulfilling his destiny as the forefather of the founders of Rome.

★★★★☆ Shakespeare’s early play, co-written with George Peele is the revenge play to end revenge plays, setting lasting standards only in horror. Yet Blanch McIntyre’s production, with a bravura title role performance from David Troughton, has much to commend it.

★★★☆☆ Oscar Wilde is associated with satirical comedy rather than tragedy, but Salomé from 1892 deals with the destructive power of supressed sexuality with passion and theatricality and, if not a classic, deserves its occasional revival to reflect changing attitudes in society.