Get inside the beating heart of Shakespeare’s first and most deadly revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, performed in the Globe’s intimate, indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for the first time.
After a brutal 10-year battle, honoured Roman general Titus Andronicus embarks on an era of bloodshed when he refuses to show mercy to the eldest son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths. Betrayed by his nation, and with his family in ruins, Titus seeks justice the only way he knows how – tooth for tooth and limb for limb.
As the candles burn and the bodies pile up, director Jude Christian (Dark Night of the Soul, Nanjing, Globe) explores the macabre madness that takes us to the edge of humanity.
‘Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.’
– Act II, scene 3
__Access Performances__
Relaxed Perfomance - Tuesday 28 February 2023 7.30pm, Saturday 8 April 2023 2.00pm.
Captioned Performance - Friday 17 February 2023 7.30pm, Saturday 1 April 2023 2.00pm.
Audio-described Performances - Saturday 4 March 2023 2.00pm, Friday 14 April 2023 2.00pm.
Overall, though, this is a fresh and exciting take on what is often seen as Shakespeare's most juvenile work. The comedy leavens the horror without taking away its impact: the audience still reel in the bloody final scene which sees Tamora's sons served up for dinner and four characters fatally stabbed. Having an excellent all-female cast pays major dividends in bringing Titus into the 21st century, shining its issues of toxic masculinity and the cost of vengeance through the novel lens of black comedy and burning candles.
For all the hilarious busyness, it’s a mark of the production’s intelligence that its two most shocking moments arise from the text itself. There’s an audible gasp as Tamora’s Moorish lover (owned by Kibong Tanji with a sexualised swagger) is dismissed to his face as “swart ... spotted, detested, and abominable”. A stunned silence greets the introduction of the mutilated Lavinia by her own uncle with the words “this was thy daughter”.
2023 | West End |
West End |
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