On the surface, Titus is an ugly play set in a terrifying world. It is difficult to find any character that has any human quality worth connecting with. However, the joy of creating a world filled with such extremes, with heightened emotions and characters proved to be irresistible.
Titus calls into question our modern obsession with the concept of punishment, and examines the roles of victor and vanquished. Titus’ action of enforcing his religious beliefs onto another culture through the act of human sacrifice in the opening throws us headlong into questioning the true cost of victory and the behaviour and decisions of the victors. Such decisions can drastically alter the road to lasting peace and progression. This one action determines the devastating course of the rest of the production.
Throughout the pre-production and rehearsal process my mantra as a director was, “Do not judge.” I firmly believe that an actor is not able to perform truthfully if they are casting judgement on the behaviour of their character. Like the actors I work with, I too am unable to fully realise the journey of any character, situation or production if I am judging the action (or inaction) of the people in the world that I am creating. On the surface there are a number of characters that are easy to condemn in this play, however, once the actors and I began examining each character’s personal situation, we were able to find the beauty in every individual character’s journey, no matter how destructive that journey may be. For example, on a first reading of the text all of us read Chiron and Demetrius as the true villains of Titus, but when we considered their personal journeys more deeply we also began to see two young people who were raised on a battlefield. These young siblings defended their country from invaders, were then captured and taken to a foreign world, and forced to watch their sister brutally sacrificed to a foreign God. These same young people were then miraculously saved from gruesome death and then handed the highest status in Roman culture. Is it any wonder that they are wrestling with what we now refer to as PTSD? Is it surprising that they focus their rage and despair on a wealthy, privileged, sheltered character like Lavinia? Let me be clear that while I do not make excuses for their behaviour, I do feel that understanding Shakespeare’s complex play requires that we attempt to consider all angles, instead of condemning without an understanding of the given circumstances.
TITUS was performed in 2015 at the Theatre Garage, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in rep with Much Ado About Nothing.
Produced by Mission Theatre.
DIRECTOR
Penelope Parsons-Lord
DESIGNERS
Set design Justine Hooper
Lighting design Tony Story
Sound design Joe Gamble
Costume design Penelope Parsons-Lord
CAST
Death Amy Vickroy
Saturninus Andy Schnabel
Tamora Anneliese Stuht
Young Lucius/Ensemble Antonia Perez
Lucius Austine England
Martius/Ensmble Craig Fernholz
Publius/Ensemble Derek Dirlam
Lavinia Heather Burmeister
Marcus Lucas Gerstner
Alarbus/Ensemble Marisa Tejeda
Chiron Matt Ouren
Mutius/Ensemble Michael Terrell Brown
Titus Michael Kelly
Bassianus/Ensemble Patrick Webster
Demetrius Rachel Linder
Aaron Ricardo Beaird
Quintus/Ensemble Will Hoeschle
