Theatre review
Production: Titus Andronicus
By: William Shakespeare
Main Players: Simon Bradbury, Colleen Wheeler, Russell Roberts, Allan Morgan, Bob Frazer, Haig Sutherland, Darren Dolynski, Hamza Adam, Charles Christian Gallant, Kyle Rideout, Omari Newton, Jennifer Lines, Julie McIsaac
Director: Kim Collier
Where: Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival Vancouver, Studio Stage
Run: July 9-September 19 2008 

Reviewed by: Tessa Perkins (Vancouver Correspondent - Canada) 

Probably one of Shakespeare's darkest tragedies, Titus Andronicus is the story of an endless cycle of revenge that quickly spirals out of control. The play is very violent and bloody, and it makes one think about what could possibly cause a human to commit such atrocious acts as rape and murder. This staging of the play has been modernized to allow for a same sex marriage and more up-to-date costuming. 

Titus (Roberts) returns home from war only to find himself almost immediately in the middle of a much more personal conflict. He has brought back prisoners - Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Lines) and her three children - and chooses to sacrifice the daughter as a customary farewell to his dead sons whom he is mourning for. Titus has been chosen as the new emperor of Rome, but declines and offers the title to Saturninus (Bradbury) who desires Lavinia (McIsaac), Titus's daughter as his bride. Bassiana (Wheeler), Saturninus's sister, desires Lavinia as well which causes a struggle and ends in Titus killing one of his sons. Saturninus decides to marry Tamora instead and rejects Lavinia. With this alliance in place, Tamora can now begin her acts of revenge against Titus to avenge the death of her daughter.  

The Goths wear very gothic and excessive outfits in mostly black except for when Tamora's sons, Demetrius (Gallant) and Chiron (Rideout), don kilts while chasing Bassiana and Lavinia through the forest. After killing Bassiana and raping Lavinia, they cut out her tongue and cut off her hands to conceal their guilt. Lavinia is discovered in only her bloody, tattered blouse by her uncle, Marcus (Morgan), but she is unable to tell him who has done such horrible things to her. The nakedness of Lavinia makes the audience feel even more uncomfortable for her and her utter despair is even more potent as she stumbles around dripping blood all over the stage. While secretly plotting with her lover Aaron (Newton) and her sons, Tamora maintains a very polished and arrogantly elegant look throughout the entire play wearing striking, lavish gowns. With a total disregard for everything and everyone, the costumes of the Goths mirror their extravagant apathy. In contrast to this, the Romans are always seen in military fatigues except for the hunting scene in which they wear classic British hunting outfits.

To enhance the intensity of feelings and emphasize the harsh realities of the play, Peter Allan has created a cinematic, militaristic score that adds to the realism of the events. When the Goths enter the stage there is always evil, anxious sounding music. The fight scene in which Demetrius and Chiron compete for the right to Lavinia is further strengthened by the accompanying music.  

Props also play a large role in this play and help create a dark mood. There are large black doors at the back of the stage which set the stage for the cold, callous events to come. The forest scene features tall, black leafless trees which seem to cower over the characters and create not only the sense of loneliness and desperation in Lavinia, but also the sense of heartless brutality in Demetrius and Chiron. When Titus is tricked into cutting off his own hand in return for getting his captive sons back, he is instead delivered two heads in sacs, and his own hand which looks quite realistic. Another prominent prop is a table that can be wheeled on and off stage through the large doors. It sets up that last scene in which Titus feeds Tamora's sons to her in a meat pie.

Although the contents of the play are upsetting and violently tragic, it shows that revenge is not the answer. Titus may have killed Tamora's children, but in the process he also killed some of his own and was murdered himself leaving a bloody mess behind him due to the revengeful and vicious plotting of Tamora and Aaron. Simply put: two wrongs don't make a right, but that is something Tamora and Titus had to learn the hard way.