Titus+Andronicus

Critique of Titus Andronicus

The UGA theatre department put on Shakespeare’s play Titus Andronicus on the main stage. It was a phenomenally produced play telling, telling the tragic story of Titus Andronicus. In the play, Titus Andronicus returns to Rome after being off at war only to walk into utter chaos. Unfortunately, all of his hardships were caused by his own mistakes, namely his decision to kill the captured Queen Tamora’s son instead of showing her the mercy she begged for while on her needs. This led to an unforeseen series of events filled with blood, death and vengeance. The blood and gore in this play is a stark contrast from your average tragedy which at times piqued my interest and other times made me turn my head away from the frightful, gruesome scenes. There were many things that this production capitalized on, however, there were also somethings that it did not. For such a big play on UGA’s main stage using William Shakespeare’s name, I expected more from the set design as the plays on the main stage tend to have a larger budget and can do more with putting on a show. However, it seemed that they were lacking in this department. But I shall not let the one negative impede ad bias my review of an otherwise rather play. I will start with the positives. The best thing this play had to offer was the acting. Oh, My Goodness! The acting was phenomenal! I had trouble picking out who performed the best. There was the strong lead in Titus Andronicus who showed great versatility playing the initially strong and proud Captain of the Roman army, then the sad and grieving father, and finally the mad and enraged avenger. He was particularly great in the scene where he played mad and was able to fool Tamora who was under the impression she was fooling him. He played this part so well that I would have thought he was mad if it were not for the aside in which he mentioned that he knew of her plot and she was playing into his hand Then there was Tamora who played the evil plotting seducing antagonist. She was both beautiful and witty, putting on clever performances to seduce and manipulate the Roman emperor. But by far my favorite was the evil and maniacal moor Aaron. His portrayal of the evil dutiful lover of Tamora was absolutely perfect. I felt drawn to his character more than anyone else. He very cocky and deceiving, never doubting his plans and never having an ounce of regret, despair, or pity for any situation. My favorite scene is when he was captured by the roman army. They threatened to torture and kill him and he just let out this evil laugh as though he was unbothered. He had made a deal to keep his son alive and that was all that mattered. He didn’t care what happened to him and he was happy about all the pain he had caused. He was perfectly evil and the actor embodied this to the utmost potential. The casting director did a great job selecting such amazing actors who not only put on an unbelievably great performance, but also fit the bill of the characters’ design. They all looked and acted the part. The costume designer did a very good job outfitting the cast. Another one of the Amazing aspects of this play was the special effects. The person in charge of this did a stunning job. There was an obsessive amount of blood and gore in this play and all of it was done beautifully. There were people who died, people who got maimed, heads sent to people in plastic bags, it was horrifically awesome. The one scene that comes to mind is the scene when Tamora’s sons rapes and cuts off the hands and tongue of their victim. The portrayal of the woman attempting to talk and having blood spew out of her mouth was so gruesome it made me cringe and look away for a second. But only a second, I quickly returned my eyes to their previous position eager to see what the play had left in store. The sound and lighting were as the show was to me, a tale of two halves. The first part of the play, although produced very well, was slow and mostly just buildup. I had to fight the urge to leave. However, the second half brought all of the buildup into fruition and blossomed into a beautiful dark and twisted play. So, it was for the sound and lighting as well. In the first half, I felt the lighting was either too bright in a single spot at times or just did not really fit the mood of the scene. The timing for the sound was also not in sync with the actors’ movements. I’m not sure if this was the fault of the actor or the sound, but it was a noticeable gap. Also, there was a part of the stage where the actors spoke and it was supposed to sound like they were speaking through a loud speaker. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not but the sound seemed distorted and I had to concentrate on the voice to make sure I could make out what was being said. The second half was a different story. The opening scene of the second half began dark with a dim blue light coming in at an angle and smoke rising up from the burning embers of a fire. It was a very smooth transition into the second half and made up for the lack of visuals on the set, allowing for the audience to be drawn into the scene. The timing for the sound was better as well. There was still the distorted sound coming from the loud speaker like part of the stage, but as mentioned before that may have been part of design to replicate a primitive loud speaker. The set design was neat logistical dream come true. There wasn’t much that needed to be moved around, or added or subtracted from the set design for the different parts of the play. If functioned as a crypt, the woods, the house of Titus Andronicus, it was very versatile. However, one of the things that made it so versatile was also the biggest detractors of the show – There was no color or artistic design. This was a biggie for me, I found it hard not to notice how much it took away from the show to look at wood as the set. It forced you to use clues from the actors’ words to suggest where they were. If it were not for these clues it would be impossible to know where they were. In a day and age where people are obsessed with appearance and artistic design, I am utterly shocked that there were no designs. This is supposed to be the part that puts you into the setting of the play. This was Rome! The set should have been grand and should have made you feel immersed into the scene. This was a major detractor from this play and kept it from being truly great. Overall I thought the play was pretty good. The casting was unbelievable, everyone fit the descriptions for their characters both in appearance and in their portrayal on stage. The action and gore that ensued was at times gut wrenching and forced you to turn away, but at the same time intriguing and made you turn back for more. The plot itself was very good and kept the audience wanting more. The lighting and sound although slightly lacking in the first half, picked up after intermission and more than made up for whatever they were lacking in the first. The only complaint I have is the set design which unfortunately is a biggie for me. It really took away from the visual experience of the production and left a huge void in the play.