Titus+Review-+Haley+Clark

Haley Clark 4-17-17

Titus Review
 * 1) “Titus Andronicus” can be best described as an ongoing bloodbath between Roman General Titus, Tamora, and Tamora’s sons, with a total of 14 killings throughout the play. Titus returns from 10 years at war to find only 4 of his 25 sons still alive. He captures Tamora and Aaron the Moor and sacrifices Tamora’s oldest son to his dead sons. This earns him Tamora’s undying hatred for the remainder of the play, in which she seeks revenge on Titus in every way possible.
 * 2) Shakespeare told the story of the rivalry between the two main characters well, however, much of it was lost for me in all of the blood, gore, rape, cannibalism, and unending murder. In my opinion, the sheer quantity of these atrocities took away from the story line and distracted me from the actual point of the play. In addition, the play was so long that I found myself getting distracted and my mind wandering due to my personally short attention span. I definitely missed several plot points in the slow, dragging parts but my attention was always regained when someone got murdered. Therefore, I felt as if the murders were the high points and the story was muddled and lost somewhere in between. To improve the effectiveness of the story telling, Shakespeare could have surely cut down on the on stage killings, rapings, and pillagings.
 * 3) The subject matter is definitely worth while and a work of art, as is any Shakespeare play. I found the rivalry between a strong male character and an equally strong female character riveting. It isn’t often in Shakespeare where a woman is deemed as powerful and as integral to the plot as a man is, and this is something I enjoyed greatly to watch. However, as I already mentioned, the gore distracted from this plotline. With that being said, it was surely the most abstract and unique Shakespeare play I have ever seen, and while I may have missed some integral points due to the murders watching it for the first time, I would love to read it and analyze it further in the future.
 * 4) The acting was absolutely breathtaking in “Titus Andronicus.” Tamora was by far my favorite character and the most dynamic actress on stage. She manages to be a caring mother and a barbaric savage which positively blew my mind. The actress did an incredible job at portraying this through her ability to easily shift emotions from scene to scene and create a different changing mood throughout the show, fulfilling Shakespeare’s intent for the character seamlessly. I also loved the actor who played Titus, although he scared me at times. The intensity of his character was staggering yet seemed to also fit Shakespeare’s intent. He definitely left an impression on me like no other character. Although he was the tragic hero of the play, his thirst for revenge made him different than any other of Shakespeare’s tragic heroes like Romeo or Hamlet.
 * 5) The physical aspects of the show were definitely more on the realistic side. The set was a natural wood color the gave me the feeling of a kind of fortress. The blood and the killings were all incredibly realistic with much fake blood and much gore. I thought the set was positively superb. The raked circle in the center of the stage gave great visibility for the entire theatre and the tower was incredible to look at. The set was most likely my favorite part of the whole productions. The pit that the dead fell into also added an incredibly realistic element and sent a chill down my spine. My one complaint was that I didn’t feel like the costumes went together; some were tribal and others were clean cut looing. I understand that these were different for the different characters personalities but it created a divide between that fast that eliminated cohesion.
 * 6) The audience’s response to the play was very diverse. While many Shakespeare buffs loved it and got everything going on on stage, the majority of the people I talked to at intermission were at a loss for what was going on. Being a Theatre major and having read many Shakespeare works, I am familiar with Shakespeare’s style of language; however, much of the dialogue went over my head in this production. I got the gist of the plotline but surely missed many nuances of the performance. The people I went with were also confused at intermission and expressed concern as to how long the play was going to be; some people informed me that they fell asleep. I managed to stay awake and appreciate the entire play, but I can’t say that it was easy. I wasn’t influenced by what other audience member’s said because I wanted to form an opinion of my own, however, my opinion mostly followed suit with theirs.
 * 7) I would encourage anyone who greatly enjoys Shakespeare to see this play. However, if you’re not a theatre person or have trouble with Shakespearean language I would advise you not to see the show. It is very long and at times was very confusing. I was lost at many points and had trouble following the plot. I know for a fact that anybody who doesn’t typically attend the theatre was worse off than I was. With that being said, I appreciated the show for what it was and for being a work of Shakespeare’s and would encourage anyone in the department to go see it and support their peers! I always encourage people to support the arts after every show I see.
 * 8) After watching “Titus Andronicus,” I do want to become familiar with more obscure Shakespeare. While we have all read “Romeo and Juliet” and “Julius Caesar,” the classics, I aim to familiarize my self with the more “off the map” Shakespeare, so to speak, in order to further my theatre education.

Dr. Richmond, I just looked at my page and realized that when I attempted to submit this review on Monday April 17th, it never saved. This is why the date for posting is later. I am so sorry that it is showing up late, but I did add it to this page on April, 17th. Thank You!