Abstract
The rarely seen Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's first tragedy, has had only three previous Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) productions: 1955 with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh; 1972 with Colin Blakely and Janet Suzman; and 1981 with Patrick Stewart. Certainly Shakespeare's most gruesome play, Titus Andronicus has returned to the RSC repertory in a new production that has generated considerable controversy. Director Deborah Warner, the first woman to direct at the RSC's new Swan Theatre, continually surprises the audience with her audacious and brilliant touches. The bleakness of Isabella Bywater's bare, faintly Japanese, setting and Wayne Dowdeswell's blinding lighting underline the revealing clarity and simplicity of Warner's staging as well as the unremitting isolation of Titus's tragic and highly personal struggle. A simple door in the stage floor doubles as a horrific trap for victims and a convenient grave for their disposal, leaving the impression that the carnage will soon bulge through the cracks between the dusty stage planks.
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