The National Theatre production of Coriolanus, starring David Oyelowo, will change into available for streaming starting in January.
The production, which played London’s Olivier Theatre in a two-month run this past fall, will stream on National Theatre at Home’s subscription platform starting Jan. 2. This play, and making the production more accessible, especially given its political resonance, holds particular importance for Oyelowo, the Selma and Lawmen: Bass Reeves star who made his return to the stage within the title role.
“Not everyone can get to London, or everyone can afford those prices, after which quite plenty of individuals are just intimidated by Shakespeare, and so access to it in an environment that’s possibly less intimidating, or means less of an effort to get to the theater so as to engage with a play that you just’re already intimidated by, those are all things that I actually embrace,” Oyelowo said.
The play, follows Coriolanus, who goes from Rome’s biggest soldier to running for political office. He can’t win the vote of the people, as he refuses to ingratiate himself to them, and is banished from town, which causes him to plot his revenge.
Oyelowo suggested Coriolanus to Rufus Norris, the now outgoing artistic director of the National Theatre, about ten years ago, as he had been ruminating on the play since performing it in drama school. The Selma actor was also drawn to the bizarre construction of the play, where it starts with battle scenes after which becomes political, then emotional, and the proven fact that it has rarely been produced, unlike Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet, which he calls “overdone” compared to Shakespeare’s many other works.
“I just became incredibly fascinated by each the play, but specifically the foremost character, because he’s such a difficult character to pin down. Is he a hero? Is he an antihero? Is he someone the audience goes to get on board with, or someone they’re going to be repulsed by? Is he someone who’s for Rome but anti-the people, or is he ultimately concerning the people and Rome by going against what the people say they need? I just found him truly human, but in addition heroic and iconic,” he said.
The play was initially meant to run in 2020, but that run was curtailed by the pandemic. Oyelowo and director Lyndsey Turner then looked to 2024, as they felt the play would have a selected political resonance with the time period.
“2024 was going to be this yr where there was a general election in each the UK and the US. And considering how the play looks on the politics of personality over policy. That is man, who, his prowess on the battlefield is what thrusts him into the general public eye and into the political sphere, but his prowess as a warrior can be the thing that makes him not an excellent candidate for the compromise that is nearly expected whenever you’re a politician. And all of those themes, I believe we’ve seen play out within the political sphere, each within the UK and America and world wide recently,” he said.
That resonance was most potent the day after the U.S. presidential election, Oyelowo said, when the audience would have audible reactions to lines akin to “Revoke your ignorant election.” The play’s run ended Nov. 9.
Oyelowo, who has appeared in several Shakespeare stage productions, had input on the production, particularly across the casting, and the very fact he, as a Black man, was playing Coriolanus, a lionized political figure, in 2024. While the trend within the theater industry has been toward colorblind casting, Oyelowo said he desired to be mindful concerning the power and racial politics at play and solid his character’s nemesis, Aufidius, as one other Black man and his mother as a Black woman.
In streaming the play, Oyelowo said he is worked up about bringing Coriolanus to schoolchildren, who may not otherwise have access to the humanities and to a more global audience. But he also notes the “double-edged sword” of the medium.
“It’s a double-edged sword, you realize, because I believe one in every of the amazing things about theater is the FOMO factor. If it’s an awesome production, if it’s got great word of mouth, if you happen to don’t go, you’re going to miss it. I do wonder if some individuals who might go, don’t because they at the back of their mind know that they’re going to get to no less than potentially have access to it elsewhere,” Oyelowo said. “It’s a bit of bit like what has happened to the film industry. Streaming has come along and has made the theatrical experience feel less urgent, less such as you’ve got to get there on that opening weekend, otherwise you’ve got to get there so you could speak about it with your pals, since the chances are high now, inside a matter of weeks, not even months, it’s going to be in your TV screen at home.”
“But having said that, I do know for a proven fact that hundreds more people than otherwise would have been the case will see Coriolanus now due to NT at home,” he continued.
While Oyelowo might be balancing other film and tv projects moving forward, including a first-look take care of Apple TV+, he plans to maintain theater in his rotation, because it helps him reset and return to his love of acting.
“Shakespeare, for me, is the Everest for actors. When you do it, you form of feel invincible in almost every part else you do,” he said. “So I do love coming back to it, but practically speaking, as a father, as a husband, it just isn’t something that I can do on a regular basis.”
