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.
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| Tom Hiddleston as 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 21st 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
