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