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anarchist_nomad) wrote2013-07-03 02:33 pm
anarchist_nomad) wrote2013-07-03 02:33 pm
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A Thousand Dreadful Things
Yesterday evening, my beloved ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat and I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company's latest production of Titus Andronicus, in the Swan Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon.
It was..... surprisingly good.
Not being one for mutilation and gore, I have avoided this play for years. Shakespeare's first tragedy is also his bloodiest by far. As S. Clarke Hulse of the University of Illinois at Chicago has noted, this play contains:
It is not uncommon for the Bard's plays to include a high body count -- witness Hamlet or Richard III as examples of other works where nearly everybody dies. However, in Richard III, it is only Richard himself who dies on stage; all the other murders are committed beyond our sight. Hamlet does have five killings in view of the audience, but they are fairly clean and relatively bloodless. Indeed, most of the five occur by poisoning. Also, as far as I can recall, Titus Andronicus is the only Shakespearean play that contains a rape.[*]
Ah well. At least nobody gets their eyes gouged out!
It is only now -- when I am close to completing my goal of seeing all of the Bard's thirty-eight extant plays performed live on stage -- that I decided to relent and finally watch a production of Titus Andronicus. When the RSC included it in their summer repertoire, it seemed like the ideal opportunity toget this one out of the way attend.
On Monday evening, we drove up to Stratford to see a production of A Mad World, My Masters in the RSC's Swan Theatre. Written by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries, Thomas Middleton, the play is a bawdy romp that delivers up a laugh a minute -- sometimes more! Tis one of the smuttiest, filthiest works of drama to come out of the English Renaissance.
On Tuesday evening -- one day later -- we returned to see Titus Andronicus produced on the same stage with [mostly] the same cast.[**] But the tone and content of these works could not be more different. Seeing them on consecutive days was nearly enough to give me dramatical whiplash!
That said, I am rather glad that we did see this production. The play is remarkably intense, and the performance was exquisite. The director, Michael Fentiman, did not resort to symbolism to soften the impact of the atrocities committed in the play -- for instance, using red streamers instead of blood, as some productions have done. Nor did he go to the other extreme, embellishing upon the violence already inherent in the text. Murder, rape, severed heads, and severed limbs were all to be seen -- with plenty of blood to go around -- but it was done discretely enough so as to not turn the stomach.
My one complaint about this production was that I thought Lavinia too passive a character after being raped and mutilated by Chiron and Demetrius. This was clearly a deliberate choice made by either the director or the actress. Certainly once she loses her tongue, Lavinia can no longer speak. Yet I would have preferred her to remain more engaged and more responsive, in spite of her enforced silence.
Some years ago, I saw a production of Cymbeline performed amongst the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. Watching one of the Bard's final comedies, there were obvious echoes of earlier works, as Shakespeare recycled many of his plot devices (and plots) in Cymbeline -- you have the sleeping potion that creates a death-like state (a la Romeo & Juliet), you have a villain falsely persuading a husband that his wife has been unfaithful (Othello), and you have the damsel in distress solve her problems by dressing up as a boy (Twelfth Night and As You Like It).
I had a similar experience with Titus Andronicus. Watching one of the Bard's first tragedies, there was significant foreshadowing of plays to come. Tamora ruthlessly urging on her husband, the Emperor Saturninus, bears a striking resemblance to scenes with Lady MacBeth and her husband. The insidiously deceptive Aaron seemed a racially inverted version of Othello's Iago, causing havoc for the sheer fun of bringing misery to others. The interaction between Titus and Tamora was strongly reminiscent of that between Richard III and his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Woodville. In both cases, we have an ambitious woman dominating her husband -- an emperor or king -- to advance herself and her children to the detriment of all around them. And, of course, it would be impossible to escape the parallels between the father/daughter pairs of Titus/Lavinia and Lear/Cordelia. Both evoke great tenderness and great pathos, with fathers enduring (or feigning) madness and eventually grieving the tragic and senseless loss of their daughter before perishing themselves.
Actually, I am rather pleased that I postponed Titus Andronicus for so long. For, having seen nearly all the other plays already, I can properly appreciate these many parallels. Overall, this was a fantastic performance, and I enjoyed the play far more than I had expected!
I have now seen thirty-six of the Bard's plays performed live on stage. Only two to go! We already have tickets to see Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse in December[***]; now I need to track down a production of Pericles to complete the set!
ETA: Y'all should be proud of me. I made it all the way through a post about Titus Andronicus without making a single joke about pies...
[*] The Rape of Lucrece is clearly another Shakespearean work that includes a rape. However, it is a narrative poem and not a play and, thus, does not figure into this count.
[**] Indeed, Tuesday night was certainly a cheerful one for the Royal Shakespeare Company. With Hamlet playing on their main stage and Titus Andronicus in the Swan, twas barely a survivor to be found! I teased an usher, saying they should re-open their old Courtyard Theatre allowing them to play Richard III or MacBeth concurrently with these two!
[***] We were very lucky to get these! Although the run is two months long, the Donmar Warehouse is a Big London Theatre with a small capacity -- only 250 seats. The tickets went on sale to the public last week... and the entire production sold out in under half an hour! Thankfully, I was online with mouse at the ready when the booking opened at 09:00.
cheshcat and I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company's latest production of Titus Andronicus, in the Swan Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon.It was..... surprisingly good.
Not being one for mutilation and gore, I have avoided this play for years. Shakespeare's first tragedy is also his bloodiest by far. As S. Clarke Hulse of the University of Illinois at Chicago has noted, this play contains:
14 killings, 9 of them on stage, 6 severed members, 1 rape (or 2 or 3 depending on how you count), 1 live burial, 1 case of insanity, and 1 of cannibalism – an average of 5.2 atrocities per act, or one for every 97 lines.
It is not uncommon for the Bard's plays to include a high body count -- witness Hamlet or Richard III as examples of other works where nearly everybody dies. However, in Richard III, it is only Richard himself who dies on stage; all the other murders are committed beyond our sight. Hamlet does have five killings in view of the audience, but they are fairly clean and relatively bloodless. Indeed, most of the five occur by poisoning. Also, as far as I can recall, Titus Andronicus is the only Shakespearean play that contains a rape.[*]
Ah well. At least nobody gets their eyes gouged out!
It is only now -- when I am close to completing my goal of seeing all of the Bard's thirty-eight extant plays performed live on stage -- that I decided to relent and finally watch a production of Titus Andronicus. When the RSC included it in their summer repertoire, it seemed like the ideal opportunity to
On Monday evening, we drove up to Stratford to see a production of A Mad World, My Masters in the RSC's Swan Theatre. Written by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries, Thomas Middleton, the play is a bawdy romp that delivers up a laugh a minute -- sometimes more! Tis one of the smuttiest, filthiest works of drama to come out of the English Renaissance.
On Tuesday evening -- one day later -- we returned to see Titus Andronicus produced on the same stage with [mostly] the same cast.[**] But the tone and content of these works could not be more different. Seeing them on consecutive days was nearly enough to give me dramatical whiplash!
That said, I am rather glad that we did see this production. The play is remarkably intense, and the performance was exquisite. The director, Michael Fentiman, did not resort to symbolism to soften the impact of the atrocities committed in the play -- for instance, using red streamers instead of blood, as some productions have done. Nor did he go to the other extreme, embellishing upon the violence already inherent in the text. Murder, rape, severed heads, and severed limbs were all to be seen -- with plenty of blood to go around -- but it was done discretely enough so as to not turn the stomach.
My one complaint about this production was that I thought Lavinia too passive a character after being raped and mutilated by Chiron and Demetrius. This was clearly a deliberate choice made by either the director or the actress. Certainly once she loses her tongue, Lavinia can no longer speak. Yet I would have preferred her to remain more engaged and more responsive, in spite of her enforced silence.
Some years ago, I saw a production of Cymbeline performed amongst the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. Watching one of the Bard's final comedies, there were obvious echoes of earlier works, as Shakespeare recycled many of his plot devices (and plots) in Cymbeline -- you have the sleeping potion that creates a death-like state (a la Romeo & Juliet), you have a villain falsely persuading a husband that his wife has been unfaithful (Othello), and you have the damsel in distress solve her problems by dressing up as a boy (Twelfth Night and As You Like It).
I had a similar experience with Titus Andronicus. Watching one of the Bard's first tragedies, there was significant foreshadowing of plays to come. Tamora ruthlessly urging on her husband, the Emperor Saturninus, bears a striking resemblance to scenes with Lady MacBeth and her husband. The insidiously deceptive Aaron seemed a racially inverted version of Othello's Iago, causing havoc for the sheer fun of bringing misery to others. The interaction between Titus and Tamora was strongly reminiscent of that between Richard III and his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Woodville. In both cases, we have an ambitious woman dominating her husband -- an emperor or king -- to advance herself and her children to the detriment of all around them. And, of course, it would be impossible to escape the parallels between the father/daughter pairs of Titus/Lavinia and Lear/Cordelia. Both evoke great tenderness and great pathos, with fathers enduring (or feigning) madness and eventually grieving the tragic and senseless loss of their daughter before perishing themselves.
Actually, I am rather pleased that I postponed Titus Andronicus for so long. For, having seen nearly all the other plays already, I can properly appreciate these many parallels. Overall, this was a fantastic performance, and I enjoyed the play far more than I had expected!
I have now seen thirty-six of the Bard's plays performed live on stage. Only two to go! We already have tickets to see Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse in December[***]; now I need to track down a production of Pericles to complete the set!
ETA: Y'all should be proud of me. I made it all the way through a post about Titus Andronicus without making a single joke about pies...
[*] The Rape of Lucrece is clearly another Shakespearean work that includes a rape. However, it is a narrative poem and not a play and, thus, does not figure into this count.
[**] Indeed, Tuesday night was certainly a cheerful one for the Royal Shakespeare Company. With Hamlet playing on their main stage and Titus Andronicus in the Swan, twas barely a survivor to be found! I teased an usher, saying they should re-open their old Courtyard Theatre allowing them to play Richard III or MacBeth concurrently with these two!
[***] We were very lucky to get these! Although the run is two months long, the Donmar Warehouse is a Big London Theatre with a small capacity -- only 250 seats. The tickets went on sale to the public last week... and the entire production sold out in under half an hour! Thankfully, I was online with mouse at the ready when the booking opened at 09:00.
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To be honest, I'm not really sure how difficult it will be to find a suitable production of Pericles. It seems to be done with some frequency... but often modified beyond something that I would want to watch. For instance, two years ago, the Regent's Park Open-Air Theatre in London did PERICLES re-imagined for everyone aged six and over (http://openairtheatre.com/production/pericles-reimagined).
We decided not to see it. I'm more interested in the original than a "re-imagining". Nor do I need productions that advertise being "accessible Shakespeare". I can take my Bard straight-up, thank you. ;-D
Realistically, I think that we won't find a production of Pericles until next year, making it the final Shakespearean play on the list. However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of something popping up before December, which would transfer that "honour" to Coriolanus.
On a different note, the RSC frequently uses a single ensemble for multiple plays. The very best example of this was the eight-play History Cycle, back in 2008, where one cast performed together for Richard II, Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI, parts 1, 2, and 3, and Richard III. Together, these plays tell a single cohesive story, covering a century of English history. Seeing them all together in February 2008 is likely the highlight of all the theatre that I have ever experienced. Using the same cast meant that you could make interesting parallels, like having the same two actors recur as father/son pairs (e.g., the Earl of Northumberland and his son Hotspur) throughout the cycle. It also made for some nice bookending, having the same actor (Jonathan Slinger) play King Richard II in the first play and King Richard III in the final play.
More generally, when the RSC uses an ensemble cast for multiple shows, they tend to rotate the size of the parts. So the actress playing the courtesan Truly Kidman in Mad World -- which is the largest female role and the only character to bridge between the two plots of the play -- is cast in a nameless supporting part for Titus. Meanwhile, the woman cast as merely "Escort/Prostitute" in Mad World returned to play Lavinia in Titus.
Of course, the RSC has their in-house stars -- actors who are known to us theatre goers and will fill the seats. Those are nearly always reserved for big roles, and such is the case in Titus. Stephen Boxer plays the title character; we last saw him playing Petruchio in a 2008 production of The Taming of the Shrew. From one male lead to another. Likewise, Tamora was played by Katy Stephens, who we have seen before as Rosalind in As You Like It, and in many prominent roles during the History Cycle. (Although, to be fair, she was cast as Regan in the 2011 production of King Lear...)
Other "big names" within the RSC include Jonathan Slinger, Greg Hicks, Pippa Nixon, and Alex Waldmann. Although, of course, there are even bigger names -- like Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellan, and David Tennant -- that are also RSC actors (and, indeed, were so before achieving mega-stardom!).
That said, I like the concept of rotating leads within the ensemble about so that different actors each get a chance in the spotlight for different plays. It appeals to my egalitarian nature... and, on a practical level, probably makes it easier for the actors to learn all their lines! :-D
(When I think about how much each actor needed to learn for the eight-play History Cycle, my mind boggles!)
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Of course, just being in the RSC is pretty impressive.
I was thinking more along the lines of seeing the same actor pull off a villain one night and a hero the next, though given the caliber of performers in the RSC, one would expect them to be able to do that. But I have found, with admittedly limited experience in seeing the same actor perform very different roles in rapid succession, that it can add something to my appreciation of the performance. Comparing different actors in the same part does something similar - both can make me notice aspects of a character or play that I hadn't noticed before, or might not have without those parallels.
I hope that makes some sort of sense! It makes sense to me, anyway!
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I found less such synergy in comparisons between A Mad World, My Masters and Titus Andronicus. Partly because some of the biggest roles (e.g., Titus and Tamora in Titus; Sir Bounteous Progress in Mad World) were portrayed by actors who were not in both plays. Also partly because of the shuffling of the size of parts. I didn't learn much from having an actress (Rose Reynolds) barely noticed one night (as "Prostitute") come back as Lavinia the next. Likewise for Sarah Ridgeway, who was amazing as the cunning courtesan Truly Kidman in Mad World and forgettable as the replacement Goth queen and a concubine in Titus.
So, yes, I think that I grok where you're coming from... but didn't notice anything like that this time around. If
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And, yes, there was definitely a Zachary Quinto / Sylar moment right when Hopkins, as Saturninus, is crowned Emperor of the Romans.
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Apparently, he has been in Much Ado About Nothing... although I wasn't easily able to see which role he played. Personally, I think he would be a great fit for Don John! :-D