The ‘best of Britain’ at Ayala Cinemas

MANILA, Philippines - Prior the advent of motion pictures were stage plays based on writings of famous playwrights and poets.  This year, Ayala Malls Cinemas includes in its screening programs world-class stage plays filmed in high-definition (HD) format from London’s National Theater Live and operatic performances from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, offering a whole new way to experience a more intimate form of art onscreen.   

This month, the British Embassy launched its seven month-long campaign This is GREAT Britain that aims to show the best of Britain’s culture. The celebration commenced with the presentation of the National Theater Live’s stage play Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston. Filmed in HD, the play was screened last Sept.  3 at Ayala Malls’ Greenbelt 3 Cinemas with a program at Greenbelt 5 Fashion Walk preceding the screening. Coriolanus also ran for two days at Greenbelt 3 cinemas that was made available for the movie-going public.

In a recent statement from British Ambassador Asif Ahmad, he said, “We are very fortunate to have Ayala Malls Cinemas as our partner for the screening of National Theater Live’s Coriolanus, which will give Filipinos a glimpse of the world-class theater performances from London’s West End.”

Hiddleston, best-known globally for his role as Loki in Thor series, plays the titular role in Coriolanus that was written by William Shakespeare. The story centers on a conflicted man named Coriolanus — hero and defender of Rome. When an old adversary threatens Rome, the city called on to Coriolanus to defend their country. Famine threats the city, the citizens’ hunger swells into an appetite for change and on returning from the war, Coriolanus must confront the march of real politics and the voice of an angry mob threatening to throw him out of his hometown.

Succeeding the well-received and much-raved-about debut of Coriolanus in HD from London’s West End staged plays, Ayala Malls Cinemas will soon release stage plays that are also filmed in HD from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The line-up of plays filmed in HD will play every second Tuesday of the month starting on Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m. featuring Rigoletto that will be followed by Rusalka on Nov. 18 and Otello on Dec. 16 for the year 2014 and will continue until the year 2015 with La Bohème on Jan. 13; Werther, Feb. 10; and The Enchanted Island, March 3. For details, log on to www.sureseats.com and like Ayala Malls Cinemas on Facebook. Follow them, too, on Twitter @mysureseats.