But at 14 deaths, “Titus Andronicus” — with its beheadings, live burial and disgustful approach to pastry-making — takes the Shakespearean cake.
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Let It Bleed: The Perverse Influence of ‘Titus Andronicus’
But at 14 deaths, “Titus Andronicus” — with its beheadings, live burial and disgustful approach to pastry-making — takes the Shakespearean cake.
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One of the first shows I ever got to work on outside of school was a production of 'Titus Andronicus.' I remember having to run fight calls that involved having to maintain the chopping off of a hand on stage, the rape of Lavinia - whom loses her hands and her tongue, among other mass killings on stage. Some productions of the show use realistic looking blood, making it incredibly gore-y - enough to the point that people would faint in the audience. Other productions seem to approach the blood in more tasteful ways but using fabric to portray the blood. The production I worked on used fabric as blood, because if the audience is so outwardly disgusted (although there still might be some merit to that) they stop focusing on the actual story. Titus Andronicus is a show that is seldom performed, and if you say you enjoyed it, you will probably receive strange concerned looks. However, despite this, its story and many of its elements continue to influence pop culture (as outlined in this article). As much as we may hate it, Titus will continue to provide material for shows and jokes.
I really do not hate Titus, honestly, it was a show that I really enjoyed working on when I did a couple of years ago. Like the production Elizabeth worked on as well as the one pictured in this article, we used fabric for the blood which I really did like because it allowed the audience to watch the violent scenes to get the story but they were not so disgusting that they had to turn away. The show itself is definitely not my favorite show ever, but when thinking about how violent and gory it is I always have to remind myself that it was written in the 16th century, and Shakespeare had to compete for audiences with spectacles like bear-baiting so he was writing a show that would attract those types of audiences. It is always surprising to me to think about that and then remember that this is the type of entertainment that people at that time were interested in.
It is always interesting to see how Shakespeare has reached to the corners of the world in all forms. I always think about how so many common idioms we use in modern day are phrases that Shakespeare thought up. This one play has inspired more that just recreations of itself with different locations or time periods. Titus Andronicus has had its themes adapted into many books, music, and other forms of entertainment. I have not read this particular Shakespeare play, but I heard a whole bunch about it, and I have seen some of the adjacently inspired pieces this article mentions. I find it interesting that the big theme that crosses over between these stories are the blood, murder, and cannibalism. These are rather morbid topics, and yet so many stories utilize them. I think that is really telling about what our twisted human brains find entertaining and to what extent we will torture ourselves to be entertained.
I have a love hate relationship with Shakespeare. I think that some of his plays are great and some are not so great. I tend to like TItus Andronicus because it is a little more interesting than some of his others but I really hate when it is staged with so much blood and gore. I think there is happy middle ground of amount of gore and when it is done like that it is great. Personally I tend to prefer watching Shakespeare's comedies but I like reading the histories. The tragedies are my least favorite of his because I find them semi boring and they're not happy. Don't get me wrong, sad plays can be amazing but when I cannot understand the characters that well I don't get emotionally invested as much so then I am not as sad at the end. When I see a play I want to be emotionally invested in the characters so that I will cry or I will feel happy for them. And sometimes Shakespeare doesn't do that for me.
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