Stage Review: Titus Andronicus

I have been going to the Utah Shakespeare Festival for 17 years, and i have a list of productions that were unforgettable for me (a few include, King John, 1776, and A Servant of Two Masters). Like me, there are many people who have been going for many years, and there are many productions that patrons continue to talk about, even decades later. The 1990 production of Titus Andronicus is one of those productions. I didn't see it, but many patrons still speak of it years later. I was waiting for the next time the Festival would produce it to see if they could live up to that production.

Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's bloodiest and most violent play. It was written for a society where the theatre goers were used to seeing public hangings, beheadings, drawing and quartering, and people being burned at the stake. If Elizabethans could see our violent, gory movies today they were be very entertained. I don't like violent, gory movies. If it had been a movie, I'm sure the violence would have been very graphic and I wouldn't have even thought about seeing it; but as a play, with Shakespeare's wonderful words, and great direction and acting, I loved it.

In Titus Andronicus seven people are killed onstage, we hear about four other people's deaths (two of these are beheadings), a man has his hand cut off onstage, a woman is raped offstage, and has her tongue cut out, and her hands cut off. Oh, yes, and two of the young men killed are baked in a pie that is unknowingly eaten by their mother.

Morbid indeed. Still I loved the production.

Trying to depict all of these murders and atrocities could verge on mellow drama, and leave the audience laughing, or trying to contain their laughter, but this production was so well directed and acted that the scenes were very powerful.

Dan Kremer was outstanding as Titus. It is his actions that start the ball of revenge rolling when he sacrifices the son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths. By the end, three of his sons, his daughter, his son-in-law, and he himself are dead, along with others. But he is the tragic character in this play named after him. I was able to meet Dan after the performance at the home of the costume master for the Festival, and I enjoyed talking to him about the themes of the play, mainly the theme of parents and children.

The other stand-out performance for me was Melisa Pereyra as Titus's daughter, Lavinia. This poor girl (the character) sees her husband murdered before her eyes, and then is raped, has her hands cut off and tongue cut off so she can't identify her attackers, and then left to die. (I know you're shocked that I enjoyed this production. I am too. It's amazing what I'll watch, and enjoy, for the love of theatre. The atrocities are very representational, so as to not be gory.) Melisa's performance was incredible. Again, the situation depicted on stage could be comical or simply gross if it weren't for her wonderful performance.

The other cast members were outstanding as well, and I am grateful to actors who give their all to create wonderful live theatre. This is a play I would definitely see again.