Inflexible autocrat, unchecked power – Coriolanus is ‘never not timely’. So why is this Shakespeare play so rarely staged?

Bell Shakespeare’s Peter Evans (pointing) steers rehearsals for Coriolanus, which is ‘certainly more overtly political than many of the others’ in the Bard’s canon. Photograph: Brett Boardman

When Bell Shakespeare artistic director Peter Evans was handed the keys to the company’s new home at Pier 2/3 in Sydney’s Walsh Bay, he knew precisely with which play he wanted to christen the space. With its generously proportioned stage, and unusually intimate 250-seat audience accommodation, Coriolanus – one of Shakespeare’s most political, and least-performed, tragedies – was his top pick.

It didn’t happen.