Coriolanus 1994 Royal Shakespeare Company

Coriolanus; Director, David Thacker, Designer, Fran Thompson; Royal Shakespeare Company, May 1994. Photograph: Donald Cooper (ahds.ac.uk/performingarts)

"Hung with bloody banners proclaiming 'Liberty, Fraternity, Eternity', the Swan's vertically stacked galleries and balconies swarm with voluble citoyens and soldiery. Through a huge blasted hole in the back Delacroix's great canvas of Liberty guiding the people can be seen in a state of partial completion." Paul Taylor, Independent 26.5.94 Opening Date: 24 May 1994, Swan Theatre.

The resiting of Coriolanus in the French Revolutionary period with Coriolanus as a Napoleonic figure gave fresh plausibility to its political content and provided colorful uniforms. HMR