Titus Andronicus is Shakepeare’s first tragedy, although in fact, scholars believe that Shakespeare did not write the whole play himself. An older playwirght named George Peele may have authored part or all of the first act, and possibly more in the last act. Whatever its origins, the play is notorious for its graphic horror, which includes multiple killings, amputations, decapitations, rape and cannibalism. Horrors that have overwhelmed audiences and alienated critics for centuries. When the play was performed at Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London in 2006 the theatre reported that at every performance several people fainted at the gruesome representations on stage.
Although the play was hugely popular in Shakespeare’s time, later critics such as Samuel Johnson dismissed “the barbarity of the spectacles”, the Victorians naturally disapproved of it, and even in the 20th century, T.S. Eliot wrote that Titus Andronicus was “one of the stupidest and one of the most uninspired plays ever written.”
However, the play’s bleak portrait of amoral leadership, sexual violence, racial conflict, and personal and political despair has struck a chord in more recent times, with several prominent revivals and restored critical opinion. As we record this episode an exciting new production of the play is on stage at the Hampstead theatre in London, having transferred following its acclaimed run at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. The production is directed by Max Webster, who I am delighted to say joins me in this episoce to explore Shakespeare’s full-blooded tragedy.
Max was a previous guest of the podcast when he joined me to talk about Oscar Wilde’s camp classic The Importance of Being Earnest:
090 The Importance of Being Earnest
