The title character in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus is a victorious Roman general who runs for consul. He almost succeeds, but he’s no good at the political game. For self-serving reasons, his enemies Brutus and Sicinius whip the rabble into a riot of protest against his appointment and Coriolanus lashes out, saying that allowing popular rule is like encouraging “crows to peck at eagles”. Banished from the city, he allies with his former enemies and attacks Rome. Ian Butcher plays the easily angered—but honest—general in the Coriolanus Equity Co-op production that runs at the Jericho Arts Centre from Friday (February 27) to March 14. And Gwynyth Walsh, who was Prospero in Mad Duck Equity Co-op’s The Tempest in 2004, takes the role of Volumnia, the general’s persuasive and ambitious mother. Jack Paterson, one of Vancouver’s most interesting Shakespearean directors, interprets this rarely produced script.