Alana’s Score: 2 Stars
Titus Andronicus must have been written at a time when Shakespeare was feeling reeeeally bloody disgruntled (pun sort of intended?). It’s touted as his most violent play, and even if you haven’t seen it you’ve probably heard of the horrors contained within. A production at the Globe Theatre in London in 2014 resulted in audience members fainting at the violence and gore.
21 are dead at the play’s commencement, and a bloodbath ensues at the hands of just about everyone – brutal rape, mutilation, murder and cannibalism.
Directed by Adena Jacobs for Bell Shakespeare, this experimental production is visually striking (design by Eugyeene Teh) but proves ultimately to be a fractured, disjointed whirlwind of chaos and madness that’ll leave you with so, so many questions. Why was Lavinia wrapped in bubble wrap? Why was someone milking herself at the back of the stage? Why was Saturninus on a potty? I could go on…
Cut down to a mere 110 minutes, we hardly get time to process each atrocity, let alone feel anything for the victims or anyone involved. By direction, the characters are all forced to be grotesque and grim, none more so than the Clown, all exhibiting an intense burning insanity just waiting to explode. It was difficult to garner any sort of feeling for them other than disgust.
Perhaps this was the intention from Jacobs and the team. But theatre needs to be more than just shocking.
In the play’s titular role is Jane Montgomery Griffiths, portraying a man (but wearing a body suit with sagging breasts and then, later on, completely naked herself?). She has a commanding presence and a great understanding of the text, revelling in Andronicus’ sly silver serpent’s tongue. He is such a gnarly villain with zero redeeming qualities (unlike some of Shakespeare’s other great characters). But Griffiths did well to humanise him as best as she could under bizarre direction and some unenlightening passages of text.
A shining light is Grace Truman, an outstanding young actor with huge potential. Truman displays understanding and skill well above her years, and commands attention whenever she takes centre stage.
Unfortunately, it feels like a second year drama school production that’s been half self-devised, half directed by a third year student. So many ideas crammed into 110 minutes, a requirement to use projection and mixed media, a desire to shock just for the sake of it, questionable casting choices and a time restriction that proves detrimental to the story.
Alana Kaye – Theatre Now
27 Aug – 27 Sep 2019
Venue: SOH: Playhouse Theatre
Theatre Company: Bell Shakepspeare Company
Duration: approximately 1 hour 40 monutes, no interval.
Standard $55 – $95
Thu – Sat 7:30pm
Tue & Wed 6:30pm
Matinees: Sat 2pm / Sun 4pm
By William Shakespeare
21 children left dead on the battleground, Titus returns home to Rome with Queen of the Goths, Tamora, and her three sons as prisoners of war. Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare’s terrifying tale of two families locked in a violent cycle of chaos and bloody vengeance.
Political intrigue and corruption turn to rape, cannibalism, mutilation and murder as people become pawns in a torturous battle of wills. Shakespeare dives into the depths of humankind’s most vile traits and invites audiences to revel in the horrors that are found within. Grotesquely violent and boldly experimental, Shakespeare’s bloodiest play is an interrogation of power and paranoia.
Directed by Adena Jacobs (Belvoir’s Wizard of Oz and English National Opera’s Salome) and starring Jane Montgomery Griffiths (MTC’s Macbeth) as Titus Andronicus, this production will have you questioning where does the cycle of revenge truly begin and end?
