Shakespeare’s Coriolanus (Performed at the Donmar Warehouse): A Review

On Thursday 30th January, a streamed live performance of the critically acclaimed Shakespearean play Coriolanus, which was hosted within Covent Garden’s Donmar Warehouse, swept cinemas across the country.

The performance, directed by Josie Rourke, was truly memorable and exhilarating. By employing renowned actors such as Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers) and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) the play was able to attract a phenomenally large audience, who were able to watch the play either at the Donmar Warehouse itself, or simply at their local cinemas.

Tom Hiddleston as Coriolanus

Shakespeare’s 17^th century play of Coriolanus is centralised around the main character of Caius Marcius Coriolanus, who prides himself upon his arrogance and courage in battle. The citizens of Rome continually hold a grudge against Caius Marcius, believing that he prevented the citizens from accessing the city’s grain store, which later leads to riots and uproar among the public when he aids Rome in winning over the city of Corioles and is allowed the opportunity to run for the role of consul. For winning the city of Corioles, Caius  Marcius is bestowed the new title of Coriolanus, who due to his distaste for the lower class Plebeians, is overthrown during his election and consequently exiled. Coriolanus then becomes allies with his previous Volscian enemy Aufidius and the two arrange an assault on Rome, which results in the city, out of desperation, sending Coriolanus’ mother Volumnia to dissuade Coriolanus from continuing the attack. Coriolanus then eventually listens to his mother and forms a peace treaty; however Aufidius deems such an act to be betrayal and treason to their agreement, resulting in Aufidius organising assassins who successfully kill Coriolanus.


Hiddleston performed the role of Coriolanus with excelling aptitude, with support from the special effects team which most certainly did not go unnoticed. Coriolanus’ mother, Volumnia (Deborah Findlay), takes a macabre pride in her son’s wounds and war reputation, believing that his blood “more becomes a man than gilt his trophy”. This theme of the honourability of shed blood was dramatically emphasised in Rourke’s performance, with the use of bloody make-up and costumes which were so prominent and realistic that the hearts of even our somewhat jaded 21^st century audience were nevertheless still tactfully struck.

As a member of the cinema audience I developed shivers as Hiddleston’s Coriolanus stepped onto the stage after returning from battle with the Volscians. Hiddleston’s body and face can only be described as simply saturated with blood, which continued to slowly drip from his chin as the scene continued. The cameras focused in on this, heightening the impact of the bloodthirsty nature of the play and providing a truly chilling experience. Alongside this, the Donmar Warehouse successfully adopted a somewhat modern touch to their production by employing modern music which played during scene transitions and digital projections of moving wall graffiti upon the stage backdrop, allowing an unusually effective yet eerie atmosphere to be created.

It can certainly be argued that the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Coriolanus was a success; the theatre itself has described the sheer size of the audience to be completely “unprecedented” and the play’s success was significantly reinforced by the fact that many members of the live audience were shown giving a standing ovation at the play’s conclusion.

By Violet Quinn,

year 13

BAWB – Boston Area Wind Band

Boston Area Wind Band is run by Mr Lee Hextall at Haven High School and is open to people of all ages in the Boston area who play wind instruments, but is mainly for secondary school pupils.

On a Monday night from 4:30- 6:00pm, BAWB showcases Boston’s youth talent in music. With instruments such as the clarinet, flutes, trombones, French horns, trumpets, saxophones, tubas, bass guitars and many more, it helps youths to build their confidence when playing their instruments to large audiences. It also helps to make friends that don’t necessarily go to your school, with members’ ranging between all grades from beginner right up to advance.

The conductor Lee Hextall is a county music teacher specialising in brass instruments. He also runs BYJO (Boston Youth Jazz Orchestra) which is for musicians with higher grades. When you are in BYJO you get a chance to go on tour in other countries as well as all over Lincolnshire.

BAWB is having a performance on Thursday 13th of February to show off their talents to local primary schools. Hopefully this will inspire the next generation to get involved in music and to start playing instruments. This concert will be interactive by getting children to become the conductor for the orchestra. They will be playing many pieces such as work from The Life of Pi, a medley from Brave the movie and even Gangnam Style!

A member of BAWB, Polly, plays the clarinet at grade 3 and is an up and coming musician. Polly attends the majority of BAWB rehearsals as well as playing in Boston High School’s orchestra. She told YJA; “I think it is really great that you get to mix with other musicians of varying standards, I thoroughly enjoy the rehearsals and concerts. It is great of Mr Hextall to run these out of school opportunities. I can’t wait for the concert.”

By Nesta Baxter,
year 9

 

56th Annual Grammy Awards

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards took place on the 26th January at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. The show was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J.

Daft Punk won four awards including Album of the Year for Random Access Memories and Record of the Year, with Pharrell Williams, for Get Lucky. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won four Grammies, including Best New Artist, whilst also leading a massive show of support for gay marriage with a performance of their song Same Love to accompany a mass wedding of both gay and heterosexual couples inside the venue.

Lorde's Royals received awards for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year. Carole King was given the honorary title as MusiCares Person of the Year on January 24^th, two days prior to the awards ceremony.

The first performers for the 56th Annual Grammy Awards telecast were Grammy nominees Daft Punk, Kendrick Lamar, Imagine Dragons and P!nk with Fun’s Nate Ruess, as well as a special Grammy moment featuring two-time Grammy winner Merle Haggard. There was also three-time Grammy winner and 2014 Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Kris Kristofferson, seven-time Grammy winner Willie Nelson, and current nominee Blake Shelton.

Here are some of the night’s winners:

Best Rap Performance - Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Wanz)

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration - Holy Grail, Jay-Z (feat. Justin Timberlake)

Best Rap Song - Thrift Shop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Wanz)

Song of the Year – Royals, Lorde

If you want to find out more, you can look on http://majicatl.com/2022311/56th-grammy-awards-winners/.

 

By Olivia Haigh and Virginia Mitreva

year 8

Unimaginable Technology Restores Senses

A new bionic hand has been created which allows people to grip and manipulate objects. The successful advancement was developed by colleagues at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

Photo: Dennis Aabo Sørensen
completing the sensory tests 

The medical breakthrough was made after an amputee named Dennis Aabo Sørensen had his sense restored while using the invention. The subject traumatically lost his left hand in a fireworks accident during a family holiday around 10 years ago. Last year, the 36 year old Danish man got the opportunity to test out the new prosthetic hand that connected to his nervous system and allowed him to grip and manipulate objects. Even more remarkably, Science Translation Medicine stated that he could physically feel what he was touching for the first time since his accident.

The new innovative design uses an extremely complex set up in order for the sense of touch to be achieved. The involvement of sensors in the artificial tendons that control the fingers of the bionic hand track tension as the hand moves. In turn, the sensors send the information to a nearby computer which translates them into signals which a person’s nervous system can understand. Once thousands of these translated signals reach electrodes implanted in nerves in the subject’s upper arm, a fundamental sense of touch is achieved.

Despite the astounding results of this remarkable discovery, it goes without mentioning the undoubtedly distinctive statement that technology is constantly changing. As predicted in the futuristic film ‘Back To The Future’ which was released almost 30 years ago in 1985, the 21st Century has seen an enormous progression in technology (apart from the optimistic involvement of flying cars in Marty’s trip to 2015...). Considering how much technology such as our phones and televisions have changed within barely a few years, imagine how much things will have changed this time in ten years. The everyday annoyance of not reaching 3G signal on our phones in certain areas could very well be an unexperienced nightmare in years to come with signal found absolutely everywhere following improved technology.

This synoptically links onto the topic of medical technological advances. Aabo Sørensen stated “I didn’t realise it was possible”. His realisation supports that it would have once been the case that the bionic arm would have been considered as a bizarre and unimaginable design. Now that it has now been proven successful, endless possibilities of creating even more advanced designs in the future are increasingly more optimistic.

The process of technological advancement however doesn't complete a quick and easy breakthrough. It took decades for development to be configured and the technology is still far from available on the global market. The complexity of the product generates many risks which may cause more harm than good for the users on a long term basis.

The announcement of this phenomenal advancement enlightens a wider perspective into how we take things for granted. We are constantly and subconsciously using our senses to complete day-to-day tasks and it is gratifying to imagine how many benefits the bionic hand will provide for an extensive amount of people internationally, especially with the additional prospects of making even more advancements in the future.

Jade Chadburn,

year 13

The Fault in Our Stars Trailer

Millions of readers have already fallen in love with ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and on June 6th they will finally get the chance to see Hazel and Augustus’ story play out on the big screen. The first trailer for the movie debuted on the 29th of January and already has over 7 million views.

The first trailer for the big screen version of the young adult smash hit novel, The Fault in Our Stars, has finally been revealed and playing the lead roles are Shailene Woodley & Ansel Elgort.

The Fault in Our Stars is a touching story about two teenagers, Hazel (Shailene Woodley) and Augustus (Ansel Elgort), who fall in love at a child support group. As the story progresses, we learn about the struggles of cancer and about the undying spirit of hope as Hazel struggles to defeat this terrible illness.

John Green, the author of the original novel, tweeted “IT IS HAPPENING! @TODAYshow premiered a segment of the #tfios trailer. Full trailer online soonish!”.

So what do you think? Will you go and see it in the cinemas on 6th June 2014?

Virginia Mitreva,

year 8

Check out the trailer here: