Britain's greatest writer William Shakespeare's play "Coriolanus" was staged in a modern Chinese version combined with heavy metal music at the Edinburgh Playhouse on Tuesday night.

Invited by the Edinburgh International Festival, the Beijing People's Art Theatre performed the stage play with Pu Cunxin as the leading role and some oversee Chinese acting as figurant.

Lasting about three hours with one interval, the performance in Mandarin with English supertitles won applause from the audience at the end of the first half and the second half.

Edinburgh International Festival Director Jonathan Mills told Xinhua that the performance was "spectacular," and that he was glad to bring productions of this scale across continents to the audience.

Donald Wilson, Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, hailed the fantastic combination of Shakespeare's works with the heavy metal bands.

Principal of University of Edinburgh Timothy O'Shea also lauded the performance as "amazing."

The Tragedy of Coriolanus was scheduled for a second performance on Wednesday night.

Founded in 1947, the Edinburgh International Festival has been continually ranked as one of the most important cultural celebrations in the world, with annual programs featuring classical music, opera, theatre and dance of the highest possible standard.