Review: TITUS ANDRONICUS, RSC
After enjoying the wonderful staging and performance of the RSC’s Pericles at the Swan in Stratford upon Avon in 2024, it was with excited anticipation and a little trepidation that we journeyed back to see another less frequently performed Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, his first tragedy. That trepidation was certainly heightened by the black blankets given to us in the second row and gazing upon a stage which looked like a modern-day warehouse, or perhaps slaughterhouse, with overhead electronic hoists and red sprinkler systems. That, together with a long programme note about how Front of House staff have to deal with audience members being physically or mentally affected by what they see, and - of course - the play’s gruesome reputation, means that no one should have been shocked by what followed.
Indeed, there seems to be a determined effort by director Max Webster to lessen the impact of many elements of the play. He seems to have found many laughs in the script that certainly breaks the tension, and the succession of mutilation and murders becomes absurd, verging on a black comedy. This is enhanced by the decision to find different ways to spray blood across the stage, as well as the obligatory blood bags, a silver chalice, a jerry can, and a hose pipe are used to cover the cast. Each attack is executed in a stylised fashion without actual contact between characters; the attacker making a stabbing motion towards the victim who receives the stab as if shot by a gun across the stage. The lighting flickers to hide the moments of slit throats or amputated hands. Only once did we see a look of real horror on an audience member’s face when the nurse is killed and rolls towards the front row with the blood bag dripping in her hand. For all that, the black blanket is not needed and feels like a tongue (if you still have one) in cheek ploy to tease the audience.
So, what of the play itself? It is a revenge tragedy and poses the question when should an eye for an eye stop? Though its monotone modern dress with just hints of blue to signify Goths places the action in this century, we are left to draw are own comparisons to modern day tribal or religious conflicts. Titus has returned weary from war having lost 21 of his sons and demanding a sacrifice of one of his Goth prisoners, which sparks the tit for tat murders that follow in plain acts of revenge mixed with a power struggle between the newly appointed Emperor Saturnus and his artful duplicitous wife Tamora and the Andronicus surviving family. In this version, Titus’s younger brother becomes his sister Marcia, which adds a powerful dimension to the relationship between her, her brother and his daughter Lavinia. Though there are many villains in the play, the scheming and unrepentant Aaron the Moor (the lover of Tamora) stands out as the architect of much of the bloody mayhem. Only Marcia, and Titus’s sons young Lucius and the eldest, Lucius emerge from the bloodbath.
There are some powerful stand-out scenes that elevate this production above its basest level. When Titus and Marcia comfort Lavinia after she has been raped and mutilated, sat on the side of the stage, you can feel their horror and difficulty in responding to her shaking body before them. Emma Fielding as Marcia and Letty Thomas as Lavinia are magnificent and in the intimate Swan Theatre, their understated performances are gripping and moving. Equally, when Aaron (a powerful animated performance from Natey Jones) discovers he is a father, he reveals a different side as he addresses first, his co-conspirators, Demetrius (Jeremy Ang Jones) and Chiron (Marlowe Chan-Reeves) and then pleads for his baby’s life with the older Lucius (Joel MacCormack). Joshua Jones makes a smug and creepy power hungry Saturninus, while Wendy Kweh is impressive as the dangerous manipulative Queen of Goth, Tamora. Tristan Arthur as Young Lucius adds a delightful singing voice and innocent bystander to the tale.
The headline casting of the wonderful Simon Russell Beale as the noble general Titus promises a dominant performance and yet, while he speaks the lines with his usual beautifully judged rhythm and discussion, dressed in a grey overcoat, he fails to establish himself as the acclaimed courageous war hero. He is at his best in his emotional scenes with his family or raging on the edge of madness and teasing the Goths as murder and rape to tempt them into the final dramatic act. The result is a strong ensemble feel to the production where characters are well established and work together. Movement director Jade Hackett orchestrates the ensemble reacting in slow deliberate actions as if preparing to spring into action but waiting for the right moment. Scene changes removing props and furniture are achieved in balletic dance drills across the thrust stage. It creates a stylised portrayal of seething repressed violence which bursts into bloody revenge in the scenes that follow.
The play has strong stereotypical racist and misogynistic themes with Aaron cast as the evil ringleader and Lavinia seen as “a woman, and therefore to be wooed and won” and Aaron boasting “I have done thy mother”. Some may see Livinia’s mutilation as an allegory for a woman being silenced by a man. There is a strong sense that this early Shakespeare work (written in 1594) shows how he borrows from other works with references to Ovid’s Metamorphoses but has yet to develop his best use of language (there are very few memorable lines). It Is not a play that you enjoy but one that you experience as a tribune watching the gruesome conspiracies and violence play out.
Like the revival of Pericles last year, this is a play that the RSC is right to include in its repertoire and it works because of the excellent depth of cast, stylised vision of movement and careful balance between comical moments and horrific violence, enhanced by the intimacy of Swan Theatre. If you have never seen this Shakespeare play, then this is an impressive introduction to the tale.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
Titus Andronicus plays at the RSC’s Swan Theatre until 7 June, with further info here.