I'm in the middle of directing Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. It opens in close to a week. I thought I'd share my director's notes:
Warning! If you expect to see a nice play filled with courtly love, or tales of nobility and uprightness, you will be disappointed. In fact if youre any way uncomfortable with violence, depravity, or lewdness, it might be a good idea to get as far away from this play as you can. This production will not be what many of you expect from Shakespeare. This is not charming, sophisticated, light Shakespeare. No, this is mean, violent, dark, unnerving Shakespeare. This is a side of Shakespeare many of us are not accustomed with seeing. Thats precisely why I think Shakespeare nerds like me are so passionate about this play. No other of Shakespeares plays delight in depravity as much as Titus Andronicus. Almost every year since I began working with Montford, Titus Andronicus has been mentioned at the annual picnic as one of the plays we should consider doing the next summer. The idea usually met with more opposition than hot-dogs at a vegetarian potluck. When it came down to it, no one believed that this show could be successfully produced at the amphitheatre in our mainstage season, and rightly so. Nothing says family-friendly like torture, rape, violence, and death. Does that mean however that we should not do it? I think not. We tirelessly lobbied for it because in our souls we believed that under that dark and demented exterior there was a great play waiting to show its gory visage to an eagerly waiting world. So why should we do it? Well for one, if we are going to produce Shakespeares cannon sooner or later we will have to tackle this troubling play. Secondly because we think there are people out there who want to see it. Lastly because it so much fun to perform. Thankfully an opportunity to produce this wonderfully dark play finally came along, and we ran with it.
Many people I talk to are amazed and excited that were actually staging Titus. For many of these people it has grown to become one of their favorite Shakespeare plays. Its rise in popularity over the last few years, I think, is due primarily to two incredibly different versions of the play: first Julie Taymors magnificent 1999 film version, and second the inclusion of it in the recent comedy The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), where the play is presented as a cooking show. Even though the former is a highly stylized production, and the latter a ribald farce, both versions main focus is on the fact that our culture is fascinated by violence, and the story of Titus panders to our fascination.
So does this sudden enthusiasm for this play say that our society is more in love with violence than Shakespeares was? Has the play finally found its audience? I doubt it. Its worth noting that Titus Andronicus was one of the most popular plays in Shakespeares lifetime, on a par with such plays as Marlowe's Tamburlaine and Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. Shakespeare knew his audience and wrote for them. It was an audience whose daily lives included witnessing public executions, street duels, pub brawls, dismemberments, and other equally horrific deeds. One mustnt think that Elizabethan England was any less violent than todays society. It was perhaps more so. The average Elizabethan audience probably would have flocked to this play the way modern audiences flock to gory slasher, or ultraviolent gangster movies. Its all about sensationalism. Shakespeare knew that. He was looking for a money-maker. If anything, what I believe Shakespeare was trying to accomplish with Titus was a kind of one-upmanship of those aforementioned plays. He wanted to give his audience even more of the stuff they were craving.
However just because it seems Shakespeare wanted to outdo his competitors, that doesnt mean that Titus is void of any merit at all, as many critics believe it is. Some have even claimed that because the play is so violent it cant be his work at all. If you look past the gore though I think youll come to a different conclusion. Although Titus lacks the maturity, depth, and philosophy of his master revenge play, Hamlet, it does contain some witty wordplay, some deep emotional moments, and some very touching speeches. For example, listen as Titus compares himself to a sea blown about by the winds of despair, or as Aaron, perhaps the most evil character in Shakespeare, lovingly talks to his newborn son, or for that matter any of Aarons wittily nihilistic quips. I think those moments are when Titus is elevated from being a gory mess, to being a glorious one.
So I thank you for sticking around and taking a chance on a play that might sicken, depress, or offend you at some point. If it doesnt then we werent doing our job well enough. Just remember once the brutality is over, you can go home and rejoice in the fact that your world isnt nearly as bad as Titus is.
Warning! If you expect to see a nice play filled with courtly love, or tales of nobility and uprightness, you will be disappointed. In fact if youre any way uncomfortable with violence, depravity, or lewdness, it might be a good idea to get as far away from this play as you can. This production will not be what many of you expect from Shakespeare. This is not charming, sophisticated, light Shakespeare. No, this is mean, violent, dark, unnerving Shakespeare. This is a side of Shakespeare many of us are not accustomed with seeing. Thats precisely why I think Shakespeare nerds like me are so passionate about this play. No other of Shakespeares plays delight in depravity as much as Titus Andronicus. Almost every year since I began working with Montford, Titus Andronicus has been mentioned at the annual picnic as one of the plays we should consider doing the next summer. The idea usually met with more opposition than hot-dogs at a vegetarian potluck. When it came down to it, no one believed that this show could be successfully produced at the amphitheatre in our mainstage season, and rightly so. Nothing says family-friendly like torture, rape, violence, and death. Does that mean however that we should not do it? I think not. We tirelessly lobbied for it because in our souls we believed that under that dark and demented exterior there was a great play waiting to show its gory visage to an eagerly waiting world. So why should we do it? Well for one, if we are going to produce Shakespeares cannon sooner or later we will have to tackle this troubling play. Secondly because we think there are people out there who want to see it. Lastly because it so much fun to perform. Thankfully an opportunity to produce this wonderfully dark play finally came along, and we ran with it.
Many people I talk to are amazed and excited that were actually staging Titus. For many of these people it has grown to become one of their favorite Shakespeare plays. Its rise in popularity over the last few years, I think, is due primarily to two incredibly different versions of the play: first Julie Taymors magnificent 1999 film version, and second the inclusion of it in the recent comedy The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), where the play is presented as a cooking show. Even though the former is a highly stylized production, and the latter a ribald farce, both versions main focus is on the fact that our culture is fascinated by violence, and the story of Titus panders to our fascination.
So does this sudden enthusiasm for this play say that our society is more in love with violence than Shakespeares was? Has the play finally found its audience? I doubt it. Its worth noting that Titus Andronicus was one of the most popular plays in Shakespeares lifetime, on a par with such plays as Marlowe's Tamburlaine and Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. Shakespeare knew his audience and wrote for them. It was an audience whose daily lives included witnessing public executions, street duels, pub brawls, dismemberments, and other equally horrific deeds. One mustnt think that Elizabethan England was any less violent than todays society. It was perhaps more so. The average Elizabethan audience probably would have flocked to this play the way modern audiences flock to gory slasher, or ultraviolent gangster movies. Its all about sensationalism. Shakespeare knew that. He was looking for a money-maker. If anything, what I believe Shakespeare was trying to accomplish with Titus was a kind of one-upmanship of those aforementioned plays. He wanted to give his audience even more of the stuff they were craving.
However just because it seems Shakespeare wanted to outdo his competitors, that doesnt mean that Titus is void of any merit at all, as many critics believe it is. Some have even claimed that because the play is so violent it cant be his work at all. If you look past the gore though I think youll come to a different conclusion. Although Titus lacks the maturity, depth, and philosophy of his master revenge play, Hamlet, it does contain some witty wordplay, some deep emotional moments, and some very touching speeches. For example, listen as Titus compares himself to a sea blown about by the winds of despair, or as Aaron, perhaps the most evil character in Shakespeare, lovingly talks to his newborn son, or for that matter any of Aarons wittily nihilistic quips. I think those moments are when Titus is elevated from being a gory mess, to being a glorious one.
So I thank you for sticking around and taking a chance on a play that might sicken, depress, or offend you at some point. If it doesnt then we werent doing our job well enough. Just remember once the brutality is over, you can go home and rejoice in the fact that your world isnt nearly as bad as Titus is.
southernbelle:
Thank you!