Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, and something of a problem play. It falls between tragedy and dark comedy and takes revenge as its main theme.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production was well-received in Stratford, but Simon Russell Beale had to leave the production due to ill-health, meaning the lead role is now recast.
John Hodgkinson has big shoes to fill, leading a visceral and tough production. He is capable of deep tenderness at his daughter’s plight, and a certain toughness as a military commander.
About the much-reported gore. We were seated one row back from the ‘splashback zone’, but the fake blood doesn’t fly far beyond the confines of the stage, despite large metal grids running along all three sides.
I found the psychological aspects in the stylised staging much more satisfying than the actual blood-letting. Stabbings are mimed from across the stage. There are winches and chainsaws, but the effect is much more suggestive than you might think.
Part of me expected blood flying and running down the perspex shields placed before those in the front row, the blankets left for the audience spattered and stained. But no, you may be splashed a little. That’s all.
The aftermath of Lavinia’s mutilation and rape is a gift for actor Letty Thomas, who shifts from confident and sarcastic woman to a whimpering shadow curled up on one of the grids.
Max Webster’s staging offers a deep theatricality with staccato physical movement from all but Titus and Aaron (Ken Nwosu, a planned cast switch from Stratford).
The set (by Joanna Scotcher) floor is a marble slab displaying carved words from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The colour palate is largely greys and white, with just the occasional splash of red here and there.
The body count is high, with more than ten dead by the close. Titus has as much for vengeance as Tamora (Wendy Kweh), and both operate on the edge of cruelty and madness.
Utilising more or less the full-text, this production is still fast-paced. Each scene has a purpose; usually the destruction of another person. Actions and consequences follow on from each other at speed.
Aaron and Tamora are the ‘devils’ in the piece but as a black man and Asian woman they exist in a world of racism. Kweh’s hatred comes from seeing her son butchered. Of course she would lose her mind.
The implication that outsiders are barbaric or brutish is one challenged by Titus’s unrelenting and twisted revenge on those who defiled his daughter. Aaron, reveiled for his skin, is simply driven by power.
No one comes out of Titus Andronicus with a clean soul, expect the boy, young Lucius (Osian Salter), who starts out singing a requiem and ends hiding in fear under a table while blood is hosed around him.
Emma Fielding, Sharita Oomeer and Max Bennett are the standouts in the remaining cast. The atmosphere from Lee Curran‘s lighting and Tingying Dong‘s unsettling sound complements the sparseness of Scotcher’s set.
This Titus doesn’t cover up the problems of constant tit-for-tat revenge, and the racism and misogyny still hit hard for modern audiences.
Do go: but take note of the content warnings if you are sick of the sight (or smell, if you’re close enough) of blood. This is brutal, powerful, pure Peckinpah (or Tarentino, if you’re too young).
I’m giving this 4 stars.
Titus Andronicus continues at Hampstead Theatre until 11 Oct with tickets here.
Photo credit: Genevieve Girling