National Theatre broadcasted live Coriolanus by William Shakespeare on Jan. 30, 2014.
In the play, the citizens are angry at Caius Martius for withholding grain from the famished citizens. The rioters encounter Menenius Agrippa and Caius Martius. The former tries to calm the crowd while the latter openly taunts them for not being worthy of the grain because they are not serving in the military. The rioters are aggravated but Martius leaves Rome to defend the city against Volscian invaders.
(All photos are from the National Theatre website. http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ntlout5-coriolanus)
Martius and Cominius fight a battle with the leader of the Volscian army, Tullus Aufidius. Eventually, the Romans win and Martius returns to Rome. Upon Martius' return, Cominius gives Martius a nickname, Coriolanus. Martius' mother Volumnia encourages her son to run for consul. At first he seems to have won the support of the Senate and the common people but Brutus and Sicinius the tribunes trip to undermine Martius by inciting a riot against him. Coriolanus takes their bait and flies into a rage against common rule. The two tribunes condemn Martius as a traitor and banish him from Rome.
After being exiled from Rome, Coriolanus seeks out Aufidius in Antium and offers to let Aufidius kill him to spite Rome. Aufidius takes Martius in instead and offers to let Martius lead an assault against Rome to seize vengeance. When Rome hears of this news, they send Menenius and Cominius to Martius to make him change his mind. When they both fail, Martius' mother, wife, and son, along with a chaste virgin of Rome, are sent to pacify Martius. Volumnia eventually succeeds. Upon returning to the Volscians, the Volscian leader Aufidius kills Martius for betraying him.
Shakespeare source is most likely Plutarch but he might have used Livy as well.
The lead actor is Tom Hiddleston, perhaps more known for his role as Loki in the movies Thor and Thor 2. The actor has an irresistible charm as an evil character. As Loki, he is the bratty little brother who continues to point out he is adopted. When he is locked away, I feel that he really had it coming. But when I see him sitting in a room damaged by the havoc he created with his eyes red and puffy, I think, 'He is still the little brother, that little piece of shit.' In Coriolanus, Tom Hiddleston manages to pull this off as well. Coriolanus is a haughty character that one can hardly sympathise with especially in our current age of democracy. Yet when he storms out of Rome, turns up in the enemy camp and offers his rival to cut his throat just to piss off the Romans, and then yields to his mother's supplication that he cut out this nonsense of invading his own city, I do not like his behaviour but I can understand why he is behaving like that. He is the treacherous character that I can sympathise with.
The set is minimal with just a wall with a Latin graffiti and a range of chairs. The costume is mostly modern with some armour and swords added. The mood is dark and bloody - literally bloody - as we watch Coriolanus battle the Volscians and wash his battle wounds on stage. The actors' voices were not picked up by the microphones well so the transmission into the cinema was not optimal. Since the set was so minimal and much of the story unfolds in the dialogue, it is essential that the audience can hear what the actors are saying, especially when Coriolanus dismisses the citizens' requests and when the tribunes turn the common people against Coriolanus.
Overall, the play's minimum set, modern costumes, and poor audio transmission made it difficult to get into the mood but the actors played their parts well and the second act especially Volumnia's supplication scene was extremely moving.
