Titus Andronicus - Review

Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon

****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Max Webster

Natey Jones takes a chainsaw to Simon Russell Beale's hand

It is a rare treat that sees a theatrical giant step up to the role of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's tragedy that boasts the Bard's highest body count. So it is that a one-handed Simon Russell Beale dons his chef’s apron to lead us through Max Webster’s modern take on the tale. Jet fighters roar overhead in the mise-en-scene suggesting that this is a turbulent Rome at war with the Goths and set is to become the arena for revenge -fuelled murder and mayhem.

Beale offers up one of the most sensitively nuanced takes on the noble general, delivering perfectly pitched pathos amidst the carnage, while also understanding the comedic themes that underscore the play. Late in the play, when his Titus greets Wendy Kweh’s Tamora masked up as the spirit of Revenge, Beale milks the moment exquisitely – we know the violence that is about to be unleashed and yet it is impossible not to grin at the charade being played out on stage. Beale equally imbues Titus’ tragic moments – notably manifest if his love for his grievously injured daughter Lavinia (Letty Thomas) – with a powerful emotional depth

Natey Jones’s Aaron is the production’s stand-out supporting performance. The energy in his evilness is palpable, with his Act 5 confessional monologue delivered as a hymn to barbarity. Jones inhabits the verse with a gripping excitement that makes for a rollercoaster ride of Shakespearean delight.

The evening’s other cracking performance is from Kweh who captures Tamora’s smouldering and insatiable sexuality with a fiercely brutal streak of the harshest cruelty. *SPOILER ALERT* In the final act, asTamora learns that the pasty that she is eating includes her sons' flesh, that Webster has her return for a second helping only underscores her fierce defiance.

There is exquisite pathos too from Letty Thomas whose Lavinia suffers the most unspeakable degradation.  For reasons not explained Titus’ brother Marcus Andronicus is gender-swapped to Marcia, played by Emma Fielding. In the scene in the woods that sees Lavinia discovered by her aunt uncle following her rape and mutilation, the scene's usual powerful tenderness seemed blunted in this iteration.   

There is a touch of Hollywood to Webster’s highly mechanised and stylised violence. Hooks descend from gantries and while the stabbings may all be suggested with murderer and victim often metres apart on stage, strobe lighting and gallons of stage-blood make for a gloriously horrific ambience. Matthew Herbert’s music that accompanies moments of carefully choreographed movement, adds to the evening’s compelling ghastliness. The blood flows so copiously in this production that the actors occasionally slip on the Swan’s sanguine soaked thrust. Audience members in the stalls’ front splash-zone seats are offered protective waterproofs, sparing them from soggy bottoms during the finale’s blood-soaked bake off.

A good Titus Andronicus should offer up an evening of entertaining violence that also draws out the story’s vicious misogyny and unspeakable cruelty. Simon Russell Beale serves up a mouth-watering performance.

Runs until 7th June

Photo credit: Max Brenner

Titus Andronicus - Review

Wanamaker Playhouse, London

*

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Jude Christian

Katy Stephens and Kibong Tanji

Mel Brooks’ The Producers opens with Max Bialystok, King of the Broadway flop, reading the dismal reviews of his latest show Funny Boy, a musical take on Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy, Hamlet.  As the lights went down for the opening of Titus Andronicus and the cast burst into song, for a moment one may have feared that the evening was likely to be a reprisal of Bialystok’s Funny Boy. Sadly, those fears were confirmed. All that was missing from the confected balladry was the all-female cast singing All The Nice Girls Love A Candle.

Titus Andronicus was Shakespeare’s first tragedy and his most viciously violent play. Done well, it can blend horror, humour and pathos into an evening of troubling yet moving entertainment. Jude Christian’s production however at the Wanamaker Playhouse (that theatre’s first Titus) is a pretentious attempt to sanitise the fabled gore, replacing blood and injuries with dumbed-down interpretation and chopped-up candles, playing for laughs at times when none are required and reducing the Bard’s brilliance to banality.

The now standard trigger-warning in the programme warns of the vast array of troubling themes in the play. The warning however fails to mention the extreme boredom and confusion that await the audience once the lights go down and the Wanamaker Playhouse’s famed candelabras descend...

Titus Andronicus is a play that demands the audience be shocked as a part of its structure. Typically this involves classy stagecraft, brilliant acting and, frequently, litres of stage blood, all combining to create the illusion of horrific human suffering. In Christian’s production the stagecraft is childish and trite, where rather than suspending our disbelief at the ghastliness we are supposed to be witnessing, Christian abuses it. The actors may be working hard on stage, but their direction has been lazy.

The classically trained Katy Stephens (reviewed as Tamora at Stratford on Avon in 2013) actually makes a decent fist of Titus and she’s matched by the similarly talented Kibong Tanji as Aaron the malevolent Moor. But that's it. 

There is virtually nothing to redeem this take on Titus Andronicus, and compared to Lucy Bailey’s magnificent version of the play that last graced the neighbouring Globe's stage in 2014, it is hard to believe these two productions emanated from the same company. The Globe fail to promote the author of the lyrics that bookend the show’s two halves, which is hardly a surprise - the lyricist should be ashamed of them.

Bloody awful!

Runs until 15th April

Photo credit: Camilla Greenwell

Butchers - Review

****

Written by Adrian Langley and Daniel Weissenberger
Directed by Adrian Langley

Simon Phillips as Owen Watson, one of the titular butchers

With a DVD release on March 8, timed to coincide with the UK's National Butchers Week, Adrian Langley's Butchers is a fantastic example of the vision and ingenuity of today’s independent film makers.

In a storyline that sees Wrong Turn meeting The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Butchers offers up a string of bright young North Americans who one by one fall victim to a backwards back-woods clan, somewhere out in Canada's mid-west. As might be expected from the title, the formulaic plot sees cleavers, axes and cleverly shot offal featuring heavily amongst the props and effects.

Langley, who not only directs but has co-written, photographed, edited and scored the picture too, throws in some novel twists. There is infidelity amongst our heroes, as well as a number of amusingly unexpected Shakespearean references with Hamlet, King Lear and of course, that greatest butcher of them all, Titus Andronicus getting a nod.

The cast do a fine job of telling this overly familiar nightmare, but notwithstanding their performances, this movie’s standout feature is its attention to technical detail. Not only is the cinematography exciting and well lit, but Langley’s music is brilliantly balanced while throughout Howard Sonnenburg’s sound mixing – be it with the score or the sound effect of metal through flesh  - is equally precise. The story may be corny and predictable, but it is a credit to Langley’s cast and crew that they make it so compelling and suspenseful, exactly what good horror should be. What’s more, there appears to be little if any digital contribution to the story’s visuals with the SFX duo of Jonathan Largy and Alina Suave delivering the gore in its authentic physicality, their gruesome work only enhanced by Sonnenburg’s sound.

Largy himself is rewarded with the corniest of cameos in the finale – but to be honest he’s earned it.

Available on digital download from 22 February and on DVD release from March 8th.

Titus Andronicus - Review

Barbican Theatre, London


****


Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Blanche McIntyre

David Troughton

The RSC once again proves that Quentin Tarantino aint got nothin’ on good ol’ Bill Shakespeare with this gloriously gruesome production of Titus Andronicus, first seen at Stratford earlier this year and now playing at the Barbican until 17th January. For those Scrooges among us, Titus Andronicus is truly the antithesis to the seasonal festivities as gleeful gore replaces glitter and garlands.

The titular Titus is the badass general in the triumphant Roman army. Returning from a long battle against the Goths and with their Queen Tamora and her delightful (!) sons in tow, Titus kicks off the action by sacrificing the Queen’s oldest son to avenge the deaths of his own sons during the war. What follows is a cycle of revenge and pettiness that spirals out of control with the hands of Aaron the Moor (a wicked performance from Stefan Adegbola) firmly on the wheel.

Headed up with an engaging performance from RSC stalwart David Troughton as the frail but somehow still intimidating Titus Andronicus, the play is quite the ride with humour kept firmly at the forefront even as Titus finds himself losing a limb, very slowly. This clever offset of what is Shakespeare’s most bloody and brutal play keeps things as light as they can be, difficult for a three hour production.

A spurned-love opening moment sees Tamora (Nia Gwynne) elevated to Empress of Rome opposite the newly installed Saturninus (Martin Hutson portraying wonderful ignorance) shortly after her son’s sacrifice. Not unreasonably, she bears nothing but terrible intentions and the illustrious Gwynne relishes every minute. Brothers Goth are certainly grim, inspired by their mother’s thirst for vengeance and violence, and almost childish in their pursuit and destruction of Titus’ only daughter Lavinia. Portrayed by Luke MacGregor and Sean Hart as brothers too in love with each other (at the moment platonically) to ever have a meaningful relationship outside their twosome, the actors have fun with the absolute wretchedness of their characters and bounce off each other, sometimes quite literally, with ease.

Marcus (Patrick Drury) heads up what is left of the Andronicus clan with Titus, together with Lucius (the stunning Tom McCall) and Lavinia (Hannah Morrish) who, putting it lightly, suffers a pretty terrible time. This clever quartet are certainly there to be rooted for as the idiots that surround them come crumbling down.

There were a couple of prop mishaps (the bloodiest Shakespeare was a little bloodless at times) that kept the play from being as flawless as other RSC productions. Though backed by the simple fortress set - designed by Robert Innes Hopkins - with many trap doors in which deaths, baths and burials can occur and combined with Blanche McIntyre’s grand and generous direction, the company depicts the tragedy of Titus Andronicus with a chorus of orchestrated bloody chaos that is breathtaking to behold.

Runs until 19th January 2018
Reviewed by Heather Deacon
Photo by Helen Maybanks (c) RSC

Titus Andronicus - Review

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon

***

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Blanche McIntyre

David Troughton

Blanche McIntyre strives to give an aura of political correctness to her take on the bloodiest of Shakespeare’s plays - but she misses the point. Titus Andronicus is always going to be more about its final act’s Imperial Bake-Off than it will ever be about the failings of society. 

A lengthy mise-en-scene featuring masked social justice warriors protesting about “Austerity” drags the Roman setting to 21st century Britain. As an amuse-bouche it’s certainly well choreographed, (suggesting at times the Crapshooters’ Ballet from Guys and Dolls) but McIntyre protests too much, methinks. However hard a director’s moral compass may point her to dress up Titus Andronicus with a worthy polemic, one must remember that it remains little more than a 16th Century Carry On caper. Misogyny, mutilation, rape and murder drive the narrative, with a degree of violence that by today’s standards would be both offensive and gratuitous.

That’s not to say Titus Andronicus  shouldn't be performed. It merits its place in the canon, but for all McIntyre’s worthy endeavours she’s still delivered a play that treats women abominably and other than, perhaps, Aaron’s scheming lies being labelled as “Fake News”, has little real comment to offer upon today’s events, however broken our world may be perceived to be.

David Troughton is a strong and forceful Titus. His love for Rome is unquestioning as he carries the role of weathered warrior magnificently.  We share his grief and he wins our sympathy as he pursues his own path in this most vengefully vicious circle. Likewise Martin Hutson’s Saturninus is appropriately oleaginous - there’s shades of any politician you may care to think of in his performance, but understand that any such resemblance is fleeting and barely more than superficial. 

Nia Gwynne’s Tamora is a curious casting. Gwynne captures the complex essence of Tamora’s maternal vengeance, and in the final act her portrayal of Revenge is truly ethereal - but she lacks the sex-fuelled stature of a Tamora who’s as capable of seducing Saturninus as she is to wantonly surrendering to Aaron.

Stefan Adegbola and Nia Gwynne

McIntyre is on record as having been kept “awake at night” (and rightly so) that the play’s violence against women is portrayed responsibly, but only in some very small part she has succeeded. Tamora’s wincing (was this an aspect of sisterly concern for Lavinia?) as her sons violently ravished the helpless young woman seemed contrived, as if to suit McIntyre’s agenda rather than define Tamora’s credibility. And again, in the play’s endgame, one might have hoped that McIntyre, as a modern woman, may have offered some tiny moral slant on Titus’ slaying of his daughter as worthy of some critique for the despicable “honour killing” that it truly is, rather than let it flash by in the melee of mealtime madness.

Where McIntyre has offered some new insight is in her use of the supernatural. The spirits of Titus’ dead sons Quintus and Marcius appear often, not least in the scene where Titus overpowers and captures Chiron and Demetrius, assisted by the two dead brothers’ bloodied but muscular ghosts. In a scene that is often hard to explain technically (just how does the old Titus come to overpower two fit and strapping young lads?) McIntyre makes it work. The ghost of Alarbus also appears in a final moment that offers a jolt reminiscent of the closing shock of Stephen King’s Carrie, hinting at the never ending cycle of Rome’s revenging curse.

Hannah Morrish’s Lavinia is a charming if emotionally muted interpretation. Bereft of tongue and hands, the role will always be challenging and whilst Morrish garners our sympathy, were she to dig just a little deeper she’d make us weep. Luke MacGregor and Sean Hart (respectively Chiron and Demetrius) are recognisably modern day thugs. Both actors possess a lithe muscularity that supports their personae and they equally impress, suspended by their ankles, as Titus wreaks his vengeance upon their throats. There’s a hint of TV’s Nick Hewer (or maybe Theresa May’s husband Philip) to Patrick Drury’s Marcus where again, a little more depth might really show an avuncular love for the violated Lavinia.

Arguably the star turn of the night is Stefan Adegbola’s Aaron. His vocal work is perfection and with sparkling eyes and an amazing physicality, Adegbola truly suggests the diabolical, at the same time displaying a love for his bastard child that is as passionate as his contempt for those he ruthlessly despatches.

The lighting, music and design are fun and if there’s a minor niggle, its that the hardworking RSC techies still need to sort out the effectiveness some of the hidden blood bags (especially Bassianus’), where a clumsy special effect can easily shatter the hard won suspension of our disbelief 

The political treatment may be naive, but the merciless misogyny of Titus Andronicus is probably and sadly timeless in too many of today’s multi-cultured communities - it’s only a shame the programme notes don't highlight that particular observation.

Nonetheless, lavishly budgeted productions of Titus Andronicus don’t come along that often and so for that reason if no other, the show is worth a pie-packed trip to Stratford. Or why not book now to see it at the Barbican over Christmas, for a very alternative festive feast!

Runs until 2nd September

Broadcast live to cinemas on 9th August

Plays at the Barbican Theatre, London from 7th December 2017 until 19th January 2018

Photo credit: Helen Maybanks

Titus Andronicus - Review

Greenwich Theatre, London

****

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Yaz Al-Shaater

Smooth Faced Gentlemen's all female Titus Andronicus is a deftly trimmed take on Shakespeare's most bloody tragedy. Amidst some cracking performances, a company of 8 clad in white blouses and black trousers and performing on a stark white set, deploy litres of red paint to depict the story's carnage.

The base motives of the play: lust, betrayal and parental love are all preserved in a text that has been finely chopped to just 80 minutes plus interval. The acting is a delight, with imaginative voice work chanted in from the wings that only adds to the Roman - Gothic chamber of horrors unfolding on stage. The moments of comedy are well defined and with paintbrushes (and occasionally rollers) replacing the conventional ironmongery of weapons, the irony and horror of the piece are cleverly preserved.

The cast are all strong, led by an imposing Ariane Barnes in the title role. Stand out performances amongst a talented troupe are Anita-Joy Uwajeh's Aaron who frequently has the audience in the palm of her hand as she effortlessly blends evil with comedy. As Tamora, Olivia Bromley exudes an infernal cocktail of defiant maternal love, alongside a sickening contempt for Lavinia's vulnerable womanhood as well as a burning sexuality.

Four of the cast swap between various roles and whilst their transitions are slick, they add a layer of complexity that may well confuse a newcomer. Memorable from the role-changers is Ashlea Kaye who manages the challenge of portraying Demetrius' evil youth whilst also capturing Marcus' warm avuncular balm.

Only here for four days before a return to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer, Yaz Al-Shaater directs this triumphant truncation assuredly. This gender bending production takes a little getting used to and Titus novices would do well to peruse a pre-show synopsis, whilst those familiar with the fable should revel in this Elizabethan prequel to Come Dine With Me. With lashings of red sauce, the Smooth Faced Gents' Titus Andronicus makes for some of the most refreshingly accessible Shakespeare in town.

Plays until 2nd May - Then at the Edinburgh Fringe 

Titus Andronicus

Shakespeare's Globe, London

****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Lucy Bailey

Matthew Needham, William Houston and Indira Varma

Much like General Titus himself, Lucy Bailey’s production of this most bloodthirsty of Shakespeare’s works, makes a glorious and triumphant return to Shakespeare’s Globe. Under Bill Dudley’s black and oppressive velarium spread atop the yard space, the groundlings are spared blistering sunshine, but remain exposed to the pouring rain, which on press night only added to the ghoulish horrors of the ghastly tale. Guttural percussion and pungent incense assault one's senses on entering the Globe’s performing space and even before the players take to the stage, this production hints at being a festival of Shakespearean fun.

The classic story is driven by the vengeance that Tamora, the Goth Queen and Titus her conqueror, wreak upon each other's families for the various acts of murder, rape and mutilation that their children have suffered. Around these tribes and fuelling their appetites for revenge, Aaron, Tamora's Moorish lover, spins a web of lies and deceit that adds to the body count. Whilst the horrendous rape and disfigurement of Titus’ daughter Lavinia occurs offstage, nearly all the other carnage occurs in full view of the audience. For those who like their literature served bloody, this play truly is a rare treat.

Lavinia's rape is evil and Flora Spencer-Longhurst puts in a moving performance as the victim, pleading to Indira Varma’s Tamora woman to woman that she should call off sons Chiron and Demetrius from ravishing her. Elsewhere in the play however, and as can be so often the case with horror, there is much comedy. When Tamora gives birth to a mixed-race baby, conceived illegitimately with Aaron, the proud father boasts to her shocked legitimate sons. When they accuse him of having “undone” their mother, he retorts “I have done thy mother”. Obi Abili convinces as the malevolent Moor and deftly extracts a deserved guffaw from the crowd. Some of the play's comedy is occasionally overplayed and Matthew Needham’s Emperor Saturninus is at times just a little heavy on the Kenneth Williams style antics.

William Houston plays the wearied Titus well. Rome’s loyal servant, he comes close to losing his mind as he witnesses the terrors that befall his family, though in the play’s final scenes, adorned in chef’s hat as the Bard instructs, his serving up of the pie in which Chiron and Demetrius have been slaughtered and baked, is delivered with relish. One should also give a nod to Brian Martin and Samuel Edward-Cook's performances as the errant young Goths, destined to fill Titus' infernal pasty. Their final scene before Andronicus slits their throats is excruciating to watch. Suspended by their ankles for what is probably five minutes but seems an eternity, their ultimate despatch comes as a blessed relief to the audience.

Ian Gelder is a wise counsel as Titus’ brother Marcus, though it is also largely through this play's creative team that Bailey has also achieved her success. Django Bates’ music, haunting trumpets and relentless drums, suggest a world of violence and discord. Terry King, arguably one of the greatest fight directors, choreographs the mayhem with aplomb whilst Pam Humpage’s make-up effects go a long way to convincing us that the onstage horrors are for real.

If you can stomach violence (and 13 people were spotted being helped from the auditorium during act one alone) then Bailey's production truly is Shakespeare for the people. The yard space is used to the full as the groundlings become Rome’s plebeians and the bacchanalic splashing of wine over the squealing crowd only adds to the merriment. Shocking, upsetting and at times hilarious, this Titus Andronicus is bloody good Shakespeare.

Runs until 13th July 2014

My Diamond Dozen - The Best of 2013

The Baz's Diamond Dozen 

My 12 most memorable theatrical moments of 2013, in alphabetical order:



A Class Act starring John Barr
Landor Theatre, London
Dir. Robert McWhir

John Barr broke hearts in this glorious, gut-wrenching snapshot of the life of Ed Kleban, lyricist of A Chorus Line
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/03/a-class-act.html


Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter In Conversation: NT at 50
National Theatre, London

Two legends of Richard Eyre's iconic Guys and Dolls production from 1982, talked about their time at the NT
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/10/national-histories-imelda-staunton-and.html


Little Shop of Horrors
Kings Arms, Manchester
Dir. James Baker

A rare example of cracking fringe theatre to be found outside the usual stamping grounds of London and Edinburgh


Macbeth starring Kenneth Branagh
Manchester International Festival
Dir. Kenneth Branagh & Rob Ashford

Possibly the best Shakespeare staged in recent years. Sublime performances in the most innovative of settings imaginable.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/07/macbeth.html


Piaf starring Frances Ruffelle
Curve, Leicester
Dir. Paul Kerryson

8 times a week, Frances Ruffelle literally became Edith Piaf, telling the singer's story from the gutter to world fame, to broken-ness and death.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/02/piaf.html


Pippin
Music Box Theatre, New York
Dir. Diane Paulus

A jaw-dropping spectacle of stagecraft. Visuals and vocals with no gimmickry, just excellence throughout.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/10/pippin.html


Richard II starring David Tennant
RSC Stratford upon Avon
Dir. Greg Doran

Tennant and Doran grasp this most political of tales, giving a classic chapter of English history a sparkling contemporary relevance.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/10/richard-ii.html


Scott Alan in Concert
O2, London

An evening of revelatory and powerful musical theatre, performed by a stellar gathering, that included Cynthia Erivo......
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/08/scott-alan.html


The Color Purple starring Cynthia Erivo
Menier Chocolate Factory, London
Dir. John Doyle

Bringing this Broadway hit to London, Doyle extracted performances from his cast, Erivo in particular, that breathed life into this harrowing yet ultimately uplifting story.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/09/the-color-purple.html


The Scottsboro Boys
Young Vic Theatre, London
Dir. Susan Stroman

Another acclaimed Broadway work, Stroman gave London yet more harrowing theatre in Kander & Ebb's final collaboration, based upon a tragic miscarriage of justice in the American South.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/12/the-scottsboro-boys.html


Titus Andronicus
RSC Swan Theatre, Stratford upon Avon
Dir. Michael Fentiman

With a decent budget, fabulous creatives and a talented company, Fentiman skilfully extracted the politics, irony and dark humour of this most violent of Shakespeare's plays.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/06/titus-andronicus.html


West Side Story
NYMT at the Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
Dir. Nikolai Foster

With choreographer Drew McOnie and MD Tom Deering, Foster breathed life into the Bernstein/Sondheim classic using only an empty warehouse, steel containers and a company of astonishingly talented young people.
http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2013/08/west-side-story.html

Titus Andronicus

Swan Theatre, Straford Upon Avon

*****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Michael Fentiman



Stephen Boxer and Rose Reynolds

If the RSC’s Titus Andronicus were a DVD (which it damn well should be, but that’s another story) it would sport an 18 certificate, with the warning “contains scenes of extreme gore and violence”. This production actually deserves a further rubric: “contains scenes of outstanding acting and visionary design”.

Michael Fentiman’s production messes with our mind as costume and design take us on a Back To The Future ride, blurring the 1950s and Saturninus’ gorgeous pinstripe suit, with the downright medieaval as Tamora dons wolfskin: head, teeth and all, to portray Revenge. This review will not outline the plot – a synopsis can be found on the RSC website (link below) and to describe too much of how this freakish story is told, would only spoil.

Stephen Boxer as Titus is masterful. He conveys the nobility of a decorated and battle hardened General, who notwithstanding his love for his family, puts duty above all. When his loyalty to Rome is abused by the new Emperor and his wife, Boxer’s interpretation of that snub gives an added dimension to the plot. His final scene that bears more than a nod to kitchen queen Fanny Craddock, is a Tarantino inspired episode of Come Dine With Me.

Tamora, the Goth Queen, is a smoulderingly lustful display from Katy Stephens. Rarely is a Shakespearean MILF so wickedly portrayed, and Stephens’ performance does not disappoint. By contrast, Rose Reynold’s Lavinia brings a fragile fragrance to the production. Her character’s arc takes her from fair, prized beauty to violated mute victim, almost Cordelia like in the tragic fondness that evolves between her and father Titus. It is hard to believe this is Reynolds’ debut season at the RSC and she remains a talent to look out for.

John Hopkin’s Saturninus is a leader who claims his authority solely based on heredity. His subtle portrayal of a nice-but-dim man, in charge of a powerful empire, has chilling echoes of a world where even today a dictator’s son can take over from his late father.

Jonny Weldon and Perry Millward as Chiron and Demetrius are feral, hoody-wearing scum, who ride BMX bikes onto the stage in another chilling comment on the world today. Their offstage acts of rape and violence are so abhorrent that when we witness their being slaughtered, the revenge is so satisfying that one could cheer. Their on-stage deaths are as brutal as their crimes and these two young actors, also company debutants, deserve a nod for the physical extremes of their performances, being suspended above the stage, upside down by their ankles, for what seems like an excruciating eternity





Katy Stephens bites off more than she can chew



The final treat of the night (though all the cast excel, to a person) is Kevin Harvey’s wickedly evil Aaron. A Scouser with a massive presence and a beautifully weighted voice to match. That I was reminded of the Narrator in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers during his monologues, should only be taken as a compliment ( Did you hear the story of Tamora’s twins…..?)

Fentiman makes a classy impression with this his first production for the RSC and he has well exploited the design genius of Colin Richmond and the trickery of illusionist Richard Pinner. Titus Andronicus is a play typically produced on the fringe with a shoestring budget and relying on no more than good acting, inexpensive props and gallons of stage blood. So to see in this version the RSC invest expensive world-class technology into making the show soar, is an absolute treat for theatregoer and practitioner alike.

The only preparation for seeing this play is a tolerance of extreme gore. If you can stand the sight of blood, then travel to Stratford and enjoy this fine collection of individual and company performances. At times funny, often tragic and downright bloody brilliant.

Read my feature on Titus Andronicus and interview with director Michael Fentiman here.

Runs in repertory to 26 October 2013

More Bloody Shakespeare! - Titus Andronicus Returns To The RSC



Stephen Boxer in rehearsal as Titus Andronicus



This week, at the Swan Theatre in Stratford upon Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) present their latest interpretation of this, perhaps Shakespeare’s most gruesome creation. Directed by RSC newcomer Michael Fentiman the play promises to pull no punches and I caught up with Michael during the penultimate week of rehearsals to discuss his approach to the play.

One of the least performed of Shakespeare's plays, outside of the world of actors and literature scholars not many have heard of the tale, let alone know what it's about. The text has no legendary quotes of "Alas, poor Yorick" or "Romeo, Romeo" status, no fairies or ass’s heads or star-crossed lovers, to mark it out in the collective consciousness. It has probably never been studied at GCSE level, (with good reason) and if any quick image were to iconically identify the story, it would be that of a (possibly one-handed) baker, resplendent in white chef's hat, labouring over a generously filled meat pie.

The story is little more than a revenge tragedy, no different from so many of the more famous Shakespearean tales.  After all, strip Hamlet down to its bones and it is the story of an aggrieved son looking to avenge his father's murder. It is however, the audacious nature of the revenge that sets Titus Andronicus apart , with either extreme violence or the consequences of extreme violence, visually played out in every act. Whilst the play may not be for the faint hearted, it should arguably be compulsory viewing for every devotee of well told horror. The story, the roots of which stem from mythology rather than factual history, starts out with simple homicide, but goes on to  include rape, mutilation and beheadings, climaxing with one of the most disturbing acts of murderous cannibalism staged.

The play opens with Titus Andronicus, a victorious army commander returning to Rome, with Tamora , Queen of the Goths, whom he has just conquered, in chains. With the Emperor of Rome recently deceased, the public clamour for Titus to be appointed as his successor, in place of either of the former Emperor's squabbling sons. So the play begins with these two brothers having a grievance against Titus, who then slaughters one of Tamora’s sons, in front of her, as vengeance for his own sons having been killed in battle. So now Tamora is out for revenge too – and this is just in act one! Unlike much of Shakespeare's violence, where the body-count doesn't really start to rack up until well into the second half, Titus Andronicus' storyline delivers heaps of smoking flesh at a fairly consistent rate throughout. Whilst it frequently occurs that members of a Titus audience pass out due to the violence on stage, none  fall asleep from boredom.



Katy Stephens in rehearsal as Tamora



This is Fentiman's directorial debut at Stratford, so whilst he is only being let loose on one of the Bard's minor works, the RSC are still taking that initial gamble that comes with all first-timers. The young man though knows his craft and his literature well. From a historical context, whilst we may today find the extent of the play's savagery shocking, Fentiman points out that in Shakespeare's time the audience coming to the theatre would be familiar with a judicial system that amongst other things, “had criminals heads impaled on spikes on London's bridges”, to say nothing of public hangings, so violent theatre was often nothing less than expected. He also observes that, whilst the play was rarely performed after Shakespeare's death, it having being deemed too violent until Olivier and Vivien Leigh tackled it ( also at Stratford) in 1955, during Shakespeare's lifetime it remained a regular and popular feature in the repertoire.

Fentiman is under no illusion that, notwithstanding the civilised way of the modern Western World, revenge remains a key driving force in society even to this day. Whilst vengeance may no longer be meted out via a dagger or a cup of poison, one need not look too far from home to have recently seen an adulterous politician's career wrecked over the matter of some speeding points as a wronged spouse sought satisfaction. (A mere trifle, excuse the pun, when compared to the vicariously gourmet filicide that is served up by Titus to Tamora.)  And considering a global perspective too, where death through conflict remains a sad current commonplace, Fentiman also contends that many (not all) wars of the modern era have had their origins in revenge and that other than advances in military technology, little has changed since the 1500's.





Michael Fentiman in rehearsal



Not only is this challenging director knowledgable in classic literature, he is also refreshingly up to speed on modern cinema.  It is rewarding to learn that the man responsible for helming this current take on Shakespeare's bloodiest rampage includes Wes Craven (he of Freddy Krueger renown) and Lars von Trier, a Scandinavian known for distinctive and sometimes disturbingly explicit imagery, amongst his influences.

With an innovative director in charge, who has the resources of the world class RSC creative team to assist in realising his vision and talented Magic Circle member and illusionist Richard Pinner drafted in to advise on making the scenes of bloodthirsty carnage and butchery as realistic as the stage will permit, expectations for this show run high and there is an increasing likelihood that those expectations will be exceeded. Fuelling this anticipation is the RSC's own trailer, released in line with the current trend for theatre productions to have mini movie-type promos that grab ticket-selling attention via YouTube.  Industry experts Dusthouse have produced the beautifully shot, but gruesomely gory mini-featurette (link below) that plugs the play, but be warned: the 90 second film re-defines the grindhouse genre and its viewing demands a strong stomach.

Enfant terrible or visionary director ? Only this run can determine how history will regard Fentiman's take on Titus. The production is in rep until the autumn and whether you know the play well, or are simply intrigued by how a top theatre company will present high-budget on-stage slaughter, treat yourself to a trip out to Stratford and a ticket to a show that promises to be one of 2013's most intriguing as well as exciting productions.

In repertory until October 26 2013

Links:

My review of the production can be found here

Trailer

http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/titus-andronicus/pre-trailer.aspx

RSC website for the production

http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/titus-andronicus/