Titus Andronicus: Hodgkinson steers Hampstead’s gorefest

Titus Andronicus | Hampstead Theatre until 11th October

Flooding the stage with carnage: Hampstead’s Titus Andronicus serves Shakespearean bloodbath with a twist of black humour

Is Shakespeare’s blood-soaked tale of revenge and vengeance, as a Roman general’s sense of honour spirals into madness and murder in a world where cruelty reigns supreme. He sacrifices the son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths, to honour Roman tradition – sparking a brutal cycle of revenge where terrible things happen.

This is an early Shakespeare play, which is essentially a Shakespeare nasty because it tops the leaderboard with the greatest number of deaths in a Shakespeare play with a total of 14. Coming in at number two is Richard III, and then King Lear only has a mere 10! This is part of a long line of violence in plays and films that is most recently evident in the Saw franchise.

This is Shakespeare’s response to Jacobean revenge tragedies that were very popular in his time. We have limbs being lopped off, tongues being cut out, people being served up in pies, chainsaws being wielded and blood gushing everywhere. However, this is all done in a very stylized manner which removes the visceral shock that I feel is missing from this production.

One of the major positives about the production is how it clarifies who is who. It does that in both how they’ve edited the text and how people are costumed. The play ends in a scene of utter carnage, exploring themes of revenge, honour, cruelty, and the collapse of civilisation.

All this violence is done in a very, very stylized OTT way. Rather worryingly, when I looked up above the stage, there are red pipes and yes, blood gushes down and at the end the ubiquitous rain! And if people are in the front row, they are given blankets to cover themselves just in case they’re in the splash zone.

This production leans more into the humour, obviously black humour. Personally, I would’ve liked them to balance it a bit more to balance the real violence with the humour e. There was a legendary production with Brian Cox as Titus which was very funny but also had people fainting!

This is a transfer-in of the RSC Stratford production that starred one of my favourite actors Simon Russell Beale who sadly had to withdraw from this production due to ill health. John Hodgkinson, who is an excellent character actor, has stepped in to the breach and given the limited time, he’s obviously had to prepare for all this, does a sterling job with it.

This change also means that some of the heavy lifting falls to the supporting characters and here most noticeable are Wendy Kweh as Tamora, Max Bennett as Saturninus, and Letty Thomas as Lavinia, who are all very strong in their delivery of the text, making it clear, understandable and accessible.

I’m rather hoping that this is all part of a renaissance for the Royal Shakespeare Company, as along with this production Born With Teeth is currently playing in the West End and we’re due to see their latest productions of Twelfth Night and Wendy and Peter Pan at the Barbican this Christmas.

Your chance to see a well-acted and well-directed production of one of the lesser-known Shakespearean plays – just wear something washable if you’re sitting in the front rows.

A wildly stylized Titus Andronicus floods Hampstead Theatre with OTT carnage. John Hodgkinson shines in this grimly hilarious revenge drama (your clothes may not survive the evening).

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